Mettle
by Summer Leigh Wind
Summary: Eileen never thought she'd be a good mother, but, somehow, she manages to prove herself differently in the raising of her not quite normal son, Severus. AU. COMPLETE. Sequel now up!
1. I

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Eileen hadn't ever thought she had the stuffs for motherhood. Growing up, she'd been an only child with a father who encouraged reading and studiousness. While, in contrast to her father, Eileen's mother vainly attempted to implant a maternal bone in her body through visiting relatives that just had babies and children several years younger than Eileen. Whenever they'd visited an "uncle" or "cousin" or "family friend" with a baby, she was pleaded with to hold the little monsters. Sometimes, she gave in and held those soft, drooling, warm bundles of unshaped humanity. She would look into their sleeping - or not sleeping - faces and say:

"He looks like a right bruiser."

or

"She'll be a really pretty one, won't she?"

Adults around Eileen cooed at her when she said these things. The parents would take their baby back from her and agree with Eileen through proper shows of caressing the baby's cheek or fixing their bonnets. But, really, Eileen had hated them. Babies were too heavy, too awkward, too hot and they _smelled_.

Eileen had known she wanted no children from very early on in her life. But as it was improper to voice such an opinion, she kept it to herself. While her mother may have dismayed at her disinterest in dolls and frills, her father's guiding hand kept her on a rigorous course of intellectual pursuits that often lead them to the Prince Manor's cellar where he kept his potions lab.

She recalled fondly the hours they spent down there, them sitting around burbling cauldrons as he quizzed her on ingredients and let her stir the potions he made. She would always remember her father fondly. He had been a good man who hadn't minded that she was a girl instead of a boy. He had even done with her what he could without pushing the limits of society too far.

It was thanks to him her education at Hogwarts went as smoothly as it did. He'd prepared her for the courses there better than any tutor could have and when she went, she excelled and garnered the favor of many of her professors. However all the praise from the professors did little to help her social standings among her peers. They were jealous of the attention the teachers bestowed upon her and Eileen feared she'd always be an outsider. That was, she did until her mother, of all people, told her what to do in a letter a month and a half into her first year.

_Join a club, Eileen. Not just any club, though, a club you _know _you won't be the best at_.

Taking that advice, she'd joined the Gobstone Club. At first, she was so horrible the others laughed at her constantly, but to Eileen's relief, the laughter didn't last long. A short while into her being a member, they began to show Eileen how to do things the right way and she began to make friends with her compatriots. Those friendships even started to extend outside of club when her teammates began to ask _her _for help in their school troubles. She gladly gave it and soon enough, she was mildly popular among her peers.

By the end of her fifth year, Eileen was just as good at Gobstones as she was at everything else and was elected club leader. It had been one of her favorite moments at Hogwarts, she would reflect later. Knowing that she was good enough and liked enough to get such a position. Eileen had been so buoyed by this she had decided her last two years of Hogwarts would be the best of her education.

How wrong she had been.

When her father died from a heart attack in the spring of her sixteenth year, Eileen couldn't have been cast more adrift. She'd come home to a mother who tittered and fretted over her in a suffocating way that she couldn't escape. Or, more truthfully, felt too _guilty _to escape. This was how her mother was coping, she understood, it was through taking care of Eileen that her mother's hurt heart was comforted.

But by the end of the summer, before her last year of schooling, when she began to talk marriages and husbands and motherhood, Eileen knew she wouldn't be coming home after she finished Hogwarts. She wanted none of that proper pureblood womanhood. And so, almost a whole year later, she slipped out of King's Cross without looking back and headed for the muggle world.

There, she found it easy enough to enroll in a couple muggle secretary know-how classes and began to learn how to conform to this foreign world. While there, it was liberating to learn it wasn't odd for a single woman to live on her own, though, most found it worryingly dangerous when she admitted this fact.

"But dear, what if someone breaks in?" One aged neighbor down the hall from her apartment had asked her once.

Putting on her most confident smile, Eileen had answered, "Oh don't worry Missis Glenn, I know how to handle things."

That was the nice part about having a wand and magic, she realized. It was an edge against the darker elements of this strange world.

At the end of her secretary training, her class decided to celebrate by going to a pub on the hard end of town to drink and maybe flirt with some of the factory men. While there, Eileen had left her gaggle of giggling cohorts and gone to the bar herself to ask for a gin tonic.

The bartender, a nice young man that was long of face, had given the drink to her for free.

"Why…?" she'd muttered.

He gave a little laugh and tipped his head in the direction of a bloke sitting with two others on the other side of the pub.

A smile still on his face, the bartender told Eileen, "He said if you came up, to give you a drink on him."

"Ah," she'd replied. Turning, she gave that young man a once over and decided he wasn't half-bad. He had a good build and a very dashing face. His hair left something to be desired, but his boldness was quite tantalizing. So, throwing caution to the wind, Eileen had gone over.

Lifting her chin with a haughty ascension, she'd greeted him with a deep-voiced, "Good evening."

"Back at ya." He'd grinned, leaning in with black eyes all a glitter as her father's cauldrons once done in the light of a fire.

Eileen's liking became an instant infatuation.

Four and a half months later she was living with him. He worked at the factory as a welder and she found a job at a small marketing firm as their secretary. They lived quite happily that first year or so. Their lives were simple; they went to work, came home and kissed, and had dinner and sometimes went out to the pub or to dance and had fun.

Tobias was a breath of fresh air compared to all the boys she grew up with. He was candid, and wasn't afraid to get dirty or cuss someone out if they were an arse. He wasn't perfect, Eileen would be the first to admit, but he had a _charm,_ she would also tell anyone who'd listen.

When he proposed two and half years into their relationship, she agreed. On one condition, that is. "No children," she'd told him quite firmly.

He'd become more than a bit upset by that and they'd had their very first big fight. She threatened to leave him. He swore he'd tell her boss she'd been living in sin. She slapped him. He punched her in the mouth - causing a busted lip.

It was the first time she wondered if she'd chosen wrong.

But Tobias had apologized as soon as he hit her. He even looked like he might cry as he gave a garbled, "God, oh God almighty, _Eileen_!"

"Shh..." she'd soothed him as she folded into his open arms. "We were both mad," she murmured into his thick neck.

They began to sway together, letting their heated emotions cool away and finally, feeling just guilty enough to have driven her lovely Tobias to hit her, Eileen relented.

Pulling away, she met his dark eyes and declared, "One child. I will give you one child."

"Eileen," he said with great enthusiasm. "I couldn't have asked for a better girl!"

She smiled at him, but felt like she'd betrayed some inner part of herself in the process of bringing him joy.

Only time would tell her how her disloyalty would hurt her.

By luck, or maybe because all her babies sensed her unease, she had three miscarriages by the time they found a nice little home on a street called Spinner's End.

Tobias was devastated by how they kept losing their children and Eileen couldn't help the moods that took her sometimes too. Was something wrong with her? Was she truly not woman enough to carry a baby? Finally, she had it and went to a potioneer in the wizarding world to get a fertility potion.

That worked like a charm. Soon after, she was pregnant again and then, miracle of all miracles, the baby made it past the first trimester of pregnancy.

Tobias had been elated by that and took to kissing her belly before he left for work everyday after the accomplishment. It was sweet of him, and Eileen wondered if she truly couldn't love this little thing growing inside of her. After all, her dear Tobias did it so freely. How hard could it be?

When her baby was born, a healthy 2.7 kilos with black hair and black eyes just like Tobias, she couldn't have been more pleased. Surely a boy so much like himself would make Tobias the happiest man to ever exist.

And it did, for a time, anyway.

-v-v-v-v-v-

It was barely a week after Severus's first birthday that he proved to be a wizard.

Everything pointed toward a normal morning for the most part, except Tobias was running late. This meant Severus's bottle was in the pot bubbling over on the stove top as she tried to get her husband's work shirt properly closed as it was missing a button and Eileen had not yet found the time to fix it with all her attention going to her son.

"UUUUHHHH!" Severus screamed from his highchair.

Struggling to close her husband's shirt with a safety pin as he stretched for his thermos of tea, Eileen could only snap, "One minute Severus!"

However, that minute was an eternity to a one year old and the bottle levitated itself from the pot right to his highchair.

"By God!" Tobias shouted, causing Eileen to stab him in the stomach; which meant he sent her careening into the wall with a jerk of his welder-arm. Sinking to her butt, she looked at her husband's face and realized he was staring at their son. Looking to Severus, she saw he was sucking on his bottle. How...? And it clicked. He was magic. Severus was magic like her and every Prince before her.

Struggling up to her feet, Eileen declared, "We need to talk."

Tobias's dark eyes bewildered, he stood no chance against her breaking his world.

Things never quite returned to what they were after she explained magic and wizards to him. If anything, he seemed to retreat from her and their son by drinking and spending late nights out at the pubs. They started fighting a lot too - sometimes to the point where they turned physical.

Eileen knew it couldn't be good for Severus to see his parents hurting each other, but what else could she do? If she returned home, her mother might not take her back. Not after leaving her husband.

No _proper_ woman would do such a thing.

Thus so, she was royally trapped.

* * *

**This is just the first chapter of what I feel might be a five, six chapter story - all of it centering on Eileen Snape. This is setting things up for what is to come and so don't be fooled by its ordinariness because that all changes next chapter ;)**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**EDITED: 8/15/15**


	2. II

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Over the course of the next three years Eileen made the utmost of her situation. She took to teaching her son everything she could with a zeal and thought often of her father. Was this what it'd been like for him? With no son, he must have realized he had little choice but to embrace what he had (her). Eileen, having little choice of leaving her steadily decaying relationship, was doing her best to get by through her son.

In some ways, she and her father were very much alike, Eileen concluded with warm affection.

It was shortly after Severus turned four that something _odd _happened, however. He had been playing outside not far from her as she hung the clothes on the line when he made a strangled noise and flopped frontwards. Terrified for her only son, Eileen had picked him up and rushed for the phone. An ambulance came and even her Tobias turned up at the hospital once the factory notified him of what occurred.

"What happened?" he asked her upon coming into their son's little corner in a long room of hospital beds.

Biting her lip as her tiny son lay among the white sheets of the big bed, Eileen could only tell him the truth. "He made a noise, he toppled over and wouldn't wake up."

"God almighty," Tobias whispered as he put a hand on her shoulder.

It was the first time he'd comforted her in years and Eileen soaked it in. She went as far as to cry into his chest and let him stroke her hair while their son lay unresponsive in his bed.

A day or so later, Severus woke up. Completely fine and leaving the doctors baffled. Eileen almost took him to a healer then, wondering if they couldn't do better by her son, but she didn't in the end because Tobias had vetoed that idea with a great flourish the moment she brought it to his attention.

"_I ain't lettin' some magician touch _my_ son!_"

Eileen had relented, more fearful of what they'd find than anything Tobias would do to her at that point. Her Severus wasn't… He was _odd_ now. He was quiet, too quiet, even for his usual taciturn ways. He became her little duckling after the incident and played not at all with his toys anymore. He did not even carry around his favorite matchbox car or doodle with his crayons while she made him lunch.

But what made Eileen worry most were the nightmares. Severus woke up some nights screaming so loud lights across the street went on in the neighbors' houses. Tobias always wanted to throttle Severus for that, but Eileen held enough weight in her son's upbringing to stop him each and every time her husband brought it up.

"_It was a nightmare, Tobias_!" she'd holler at him as her poor child wept quiet tears into the crook between her shoulder and neck.

He'd snarl back at her and gnash his teeth, but what she presented was a logic even he couldn't deny that.

She'd ask Severus what he was dreaming of afterwards, usually he'd just say, "Nag'i" or "Dark Lord", like she was supposed to understand what that meant. Eileen didn't and she brought up the idea of taking him to a muggle psychologist to Tobias. Maybe they'd have a better idea as to what her little son's dreams meant. However, the evening she mentioned _that_ plan to Tobias over dinner…

Her husband had stood up from his chair and slapped her. He roared as her ears rang, "No son of mine is going to a quack!"

"Bad! You're bad!" Severus cried as he threw himself at his father's legs. "You can't hit Mummy!" he shrieked as he beat his little fists into his father's big knees.

Eileen hadn't ever feared for her son's safety so strongly as she did in that moment. Her husband, still oh so furious, ripped Severus off himself and picked the little tot up and spanked Severus far too roughly for his small size before dropping him back on the ground with an order of, "Go to your room!"

Severus didn't. He stood there, looking up with teary, scarily wrought black eyes and repeated himself, "You can't hit Mummy."

Unsure of whom to be afraid for, Eileen felt herself go taut with tension. Plates set out for dinner were hovering a few centimeters above the table, ready to fly, and Tobias's eyes were wide and wild, black irises looking like tunnels to his deep, angry soul. Eileen knew one was going to be dead in a moment if she didn't do something _now_!

"No!" Eileen screamed as she launched herself at son. Grabbing him, she managed to get out of their home and halfway down the street before Tobias so much as made it out the front door.

She kept running after that. Eileen got all the way to London before she found herself clueless as to what to do next.

Severus, for his part, had laid a supportive hand on her arm and with reasoning far too adult, said, "We should go to where the moving picture books came from, Mummy."

"You want to go to the Prince Manor?" Eileen murmur, uncomprehending of why anyone, especially such a small boy like Severus, would want to go there.

Face showing his frustration, the child scrunched his face and repeated, "No! Where the moving picture books came from!"

Eileen bit her lip. She_ could_ go back, she reluctantly considered. Eileen could finally call the Muggle World a failed experiment and, maybe, there would be something for her back home… If not her mother and the Prince fortune, there would be opportunity for work and an acceptance of her and her son's abilities in the wider Magical World.

"Okay," Eileen agreed. And together, mother and son found themselves walking the streets of Hogsmeade not too long after. She knew they must have looked quite the strange pair, both dressed like Muggles, she with a bruised face and her son looking far too grownup for his young age.

Walking into the Malfoy Apothecary, she wasn't surprised to find Abraxas's father behind the counter. The old man had always liked to take a hands on approach with how his businesses were run.

"Eileen!" he exclaimed in surprise.

She didn't smile, didn't even say hello. Instead, she said, "Can I borrow some parchment and an owl? I need to write my mother."

"Of course," he agreed as he sent an uneasy look to the little boy hanging off her wrist.

After sending the letter, Abraxas's father brought her and her son to the back room for tea. And there, the two waited until Eileen's mother showed up in all her pomp and glory.

"Eileen," she said after giving her a once over.

Too tired to care that she was being judged as imperfect, Eileen reached for Severus in the chair next to her and held him out. "I don't care if you don't want me anymore, but this is my son and he needs a home."

"The father?"

Eileen didn't like it, but she lied right through her teeth. "He died," she said.

Giving a little sniff, her mother declared, "You will both be coming back to the manor with me."

Eileen hadn't felt so relieved in years. She might have even cried if it weren't for Severus staring up at her with his wide eyes. Following after her mother, Eileen wasn't surprised that she was shown to her old rooms.

"I'll find him a room," her mother offered.

Clutching her son, Eileen said, "I'll keep him with me." And she glared at the woman who'd birthed her for a long while to keep her from fighting Eileen's decision.

"Fine," her mother answered in a clipped tone of voice. "Do what you please!" And, then, Eileen's mother left her and Severus all alone in her old rooms.

Falling back on her girlhood bed, she'd looked to her little son and whispered, "Come love, it's time for a nice nap."

He joined her and they both had their most restful sleep in ages.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Over the course of the next month, Eileen felt herself regress. She was much like she had when her father died, uprooted and without a tie to the changing reality around her. She cried sometimes for Tobias and all the time she'd wasted on him (as well as the time _not _wasted on him). Eileen became so distant from life her mother had to make sure she ate and did not sit in her chair by her bedroom window all day.

When she realized she wasn't going to get better anytime soon, her mother began to take care of Severus for Eileen.

In a faraway sort of way, Eileen noted with interest that her mother doted on the adult-like child. She didn't vainly attempt to make him take an interest in things he didn't care for, such as quidditch or toy wands. No, what her mother did was the exact opposite of what she'd once done with Eileen. She let _Severus _choose their course of action. If he wanted to read, she offered her lap and let him pick the story; if he wanted to take a walk outside, she let his curiosity drive their direction and line of conversation. If he just wanted to hide away under the couch, or beneath the coffee table, her mother let him. She didn't tell Severus he was uncouth and ought to come out lest he want a firm smack for misbehaving.

And the fascinating thing was it _worked. _Severus warmed up to Eileen's mother and began to actively seek her out more and more over the month as Eileen continued to float around in her head trying to find reason in her life so she could be lucid once again.

One day, Severus stopped trying to talk to her altogether and started talking to his grandmother instead. He even told her mother about his nightmares. Maybe she'd just been too absorbed in her own problems before, but now Eileen was starting to realize something about her son's dream, it was always the same. There was this "Dark Lord" character and then that Nagini and then–

Well, Severus had yet to say what came after Nagini. She feared for the day he would, actually.

That began to stir something in Eileen's heart. It was something just a bit too hot to be love and it wouldn't be until her little Severus called his grandmother "Granny" one afternoon that Eileen would understand what was festering in her ribcage.

One gray day, when the world was too wet to explore, Severus, Eileen, and her mother were sitting in one of the Prince Manor's champagne and green themed parlors passing the afternoon. Tea sat with a warming charm on one table beside a nice little plate of treacle tarts. Severus rolling around on the floor as he played with the Prince family's cat and Eileen's mother muttering at her newspaper as she read it, Eileen began to drift off into a doze.

However, before she could be fully captured by it, Eileen was woken from it as Severus spoke up. "Granny, can I have two pieces of treacle tart today?"

Paper rustling, the old woman remarked, "I don't see why not. You finished all your lunch like a good boy today!"

"I love you, Granny," Severus said as he got to his knees and hugged the woman's legs.

Chest suddenly bubbling with jealousy, Eileen stood up and shouted, "Oh _really_? You love _her,_ do you! What about me, Severus! What about the woman who gave birth to you and saved your life? What about _me_!"

Dark eyes very wide and staring straight at her with a fear she hadn't seen in almost a whole month, Eileen immediately regretted her outburst. Up on his feet now, Severus ran out of the room and far away into the depths of the Prince Manor.

"Severus!" Eileen cried, already planning to run after her son and apologize to him. However, a hand snagged her wrist and she was made to look in her mother's face. "Let me go," Eileen demanded.

Shaking her head, Eileen's mother said, "You and I need to talk."

"What about Severus!" she hissed in annoyance.

Rolling her eyes as she forced them both to sit, her mother reminded Eileen, "He can be found with an easy Point-Me-Spell." Eyeing her critically, her mother asked, almost sneeringly, "Or, did you forget your learning while living like a barbarian?"

Face flushing with fury, Eileen wanted to run away all over again. "I did _not _live like a barbarian!"

"What do you call Muggle-living then, my dear?"

Eileen did think about it. There had been something fulfilling about it, she recalled. The way everything was done with your own two hands or not at all. "Gainful, Mother," she said.

Snorting, her mother narrowed her eyes at her and told Eileen, "You cannot talk to your son like that."

"Oh really?" she snarked as she crossed her arms.

"You're a good mother, Merlin knows, but you just _can't_."

"You–" Eileen stopped. _Good mother_? "I'm not a good mother!" she exclaimed. "Have you not watched me the entire month wasting away here in a chair? Like an invalid?"

Averting her eyes, Eileen's mother asked, "Did you not leave a man you loved last month because he was a threat to your son?"

"How did you…?"

A bit of a smirk playing on her aged face, the woman reminded Eileen, "Severus _is _just a little boy, my dear."

"I– Oh," was all Eileen could mutter in reply.

Reaching out, her mother touched her hand and whispered, "It took great courage to not only leave your love but come back here and face what you left behind as well. It wasn't even for you, now was it? You'd have stayed with Severus's father no matter how he treated you if your son wasn't in the picture, wouldn't you have?"

Eileen couldn't look at her mother because they both knew the answer. If Severus hadn't been in danger, she _would _have stayed. If she hadn't felt her husband was determined to kill their son, Eileen would have stayed and let the man not only hurt her, but their son to some extent as well (as he had!)

"One of them was going to end up dead," she said. Eileen sighed. "And Severus is so _tiny_… I just couldn't believe he'd be the one to make it out alive."

Leaning in, her mother gave Eileen a rare kiss. "That is why you are a good mother. You can read people without letting your own hopes cloud your vision. It was only when you were gone that I realized where I went wrong. I don't want you to leave again because I'm treating Severus as my second chance. You might not believe it, but I _do _see now I was treating you poorly. I attempted to make you into someone you weren't growing up and now that I have Severus here, I want to see him as the person he is and be close with him in a way we never were when you were little."

Studying her mother, Eileen asked her most revealing question yet, "You aren't trying to steal him from me?"

"Merlin no! I'm just taking care of him as you get a handle on this twist life's given you."

"Oh, Mum," Eileen whimpered as she collapsed into her mother's arms and began to weep. "I-I-I've just felt so _lost_! Tobias was so wonderful and I had hoped he'd get used to magic and love me and Severus like he did before and then I _saw_! I saw one of them was going to be dead if I didn't do something and so I had to leave and I–!"

Her mother began to brush her fingers through Eileen's hair. "Shhh…" her mother murmured.

An hour or so later, Eileen finished with her sniveling and sat up.

"Go find Severus," her mother said.

Eileen didn't see a reason to argue. And without further adieu, she went.

-v-v-v-v-v-

A spell later, Eileen was back in her rooms and was surprised to find Severus lost in the sheets of her bed. Bending over the little boy, she brushed back his hair and pressed several kisses to his small face. Shortly after, he woke up and locked his gaze with hers.

"Mummy," he whispered, tiny arms yearning for her to hold him.

Eileen wasted no time in sweeping him into a hug. Cradling Severus against her, she apologized, "Mummy's sorry she yelled at you."

"That's okay," her son told her as he pulled away to reveal an expression that was worryingly mature on his young face. "You'll yell more, but Da's not here. So I won't get so scared anymore when you do. When you used to yell, it meant Da was mad and bad stuff was going to happen to us, remember?"

"I remember," Eileen whispered as she brought her son so close she knew he probably heard the heightened speed of her heart as she shook.

Would Severus ever forget his father? Eileen had to wonder. Or would he remain a permanent stain on her son's dealings with the world? For his sake, she hoped Tobias would begin to fade away until he was nothing more than the old monster all children feared hid in their closets and under their beds.

* * *

**And this is the second chapter of _Mettle_! What do you think? As you can see, I have no interest in sticking to canon...**

**To my reviewers, The Dark One Rising, KodeV, 2sidedstoryteller29995, Jemennuie, and** **alyssialui, thanks guys! You rock :)**

**Thank you so much for reading and pretty please review :)**

**EDITED: 4/5/16**


	3. III

**_Mettle_**

* * *

In a long dining room colored with streamers and balloons of green and silver, three people and pair of House Elves were gathered around one end of a long table. Clapping her hands, his mother smiled. "Go on, Severus! Blow out the candles!"

Giving her and his grandmother a quick grin, Severus sat up in his chair on his knees and leaned his weight on the table in front of him. Gazing at the six slowly melting candles upon his favorite chocolate torte, Severus squeezed his eyes tight and wished:

_Please no more nightmares about the Dark Lord and Nagini._

Dark eyes popping open, he blew out all the air in his now six-year-old lungs as his mother laughed and the Prince family elves and Grandmother clapped politely. Turning around, he grinned at the women and elves. "Thank you for the party, Mum, Granny. And thank you Tack and Keebler for the cake!"

"You're welcome," they all said with equally fond sentiment.

Hopping down, Severus asked, "Will I get to brew one of the potions I read about in your old first year book texts, like you promised, Mummy?"

Sighing, his mother rolled her shoulders back and asked, "What about your cake? I thought you told me torte was your favorite."

"Oh it is," he answered. "But I'd _really _like to brew a potion – like you said I could." His dark eyes took on a dubious glint as he frowned. "Unless… Unless you changed your mind, Mum? Do you think six is too little now? You said six was important 'cause it meant I'd be a big boy now, remember?"

Biting her lip, his mother said, "Oh, you are most definitely a big boy!"

Severus's face kept its suspicious air.

"Alright, run along to Grandfather's cellar. Get all the ingredients together, I'll be along shortly," Mum told him.

A smile that could have put the sun to shame split across his face and he ran at her, squeezing his mother's middle with a hug, before scampering off to do as he was told.

-v-v-v

Shaking her head to hide her smirk, Eileen turned to the patiently waiting House Elves and said, "Put the cake away until after dinner tonight."

"Yes, Miss Eileen," they agreed, going at the task with a happy vigor.

Unable to hide another smile, she turned away from the elves and settled her stare on her mother. The older woman looked displeased. Frowning now, Eileen asked, "Oh, what is it today, Mother? What's got your knickers in a bunch?"

"It does so irritate me when you use such common adages," her mother grumbled.

Rolling her eyes, Eileen only crossed her arms and decided waiting the older woman out was the best course of action. And after a moment, Eileen was proven right when her mother broke their gaze and made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat.

Eyes somewhere far off as she gazed into the gardens outside the windows, the older woman remarked, "We used to have _real _parties when you were a girl. Do you remember them, Eileen? A gaggle of children for you and a dozen adults for your father and I to mingle with."

"I remember them, alright," Eileen agreed. "They were all a dreadful bore. I dare say Severus would find them to be the same if you tried to throw one."

Lined face showing her distaste for her declaration, Eileen's mother primly rearranged her skirt before saying, "At least you got to know who your contemporaries were!"

Giving yet another roll of her eyes, Eileen took a seat at the long table and reminded her mother, "Severus will meet them at Hogwarts. There's really no reason that he _must _get to know them now."

"You knew your age-mates and you still had trouble making friends," Eileen's mother spat with caustic abandon.

Sitting a little straighter,Eileen narrowed her eyes scornfully. "Severus isn't me, Mother. He'll make friends just fine."

Sweeping toward the window, her mother turned so only her back was visible to Eileen. Her shoulders were set squarely and her back straight as a rod before she pointed out to Eileen, "You know, you are raising Severus the same as your father raised you. He kept you locked away down in the cellar instead of letting me take you on social calls. Now, Eileen, how did that work out for you?"

"I made friends in the end," she whispered as she remembered with sadness her first several months at Hogwarts.

Spinning around, her mother said, "But that wasn't a good time, was it? Do you really want your son to start his schooling the same way? Friendless?"

"Of course I don't!" Eileen argued. "I want him to get off to a good start just as much as any mother would, but truly, I made it out alright. Who's to say he won't as well?"

The elder's hard eyes began to crumble as she came up beside Eileen and took her hand. "You have yet to acknowledge it, my dear, but Severus is far different from you. Those damnable dreams of his are only one reason among many as to why he's not going to have the same experience as you did."

"Fine," Eileen hissed as she took back her hand. "I'll take him to see Quincy's son, Quirinus, they're about the same age."

Face aghast, her mother grabbed Eileen's shoulders and denounced the idea. "Quincy? As in Quincy Quirrell? Eileen, he's married to a Muggle hairdresser and works as a Muggle librarian! That's not a child for my grandson to be rubbing shoulders with!"

Furious with her mother, Eileen got up and began to pace. "Mother, I was just like Quincy up until two years ago! Besides, he's one of the last friends from Hogwarts that I still write regularly."

Stepping in front of Eileen, the lined woman's face took on an expression of stubbornness. "Let me handle it, Eileen. I'll find a good lad or lass for your son to befriend."

The patter of feet caught the attention of both women. Looking back toward the doorway, they saw Severus scowling at them. "Mu-um, you _said_!" he whined.

"I'll be right there, love. Just go on," Eileen said to her son.

Severus's face gave away all his disbelief, but he was an obedient child and went as she had hoped he would. Narrowing her eyes at her mother, Eileen snarled, "Fine. Find a child, but when it doesn't work out, I'll be taking him to see Quincy's son whether you like it or not!"

"Excellent," the old woman replied with a smug smirk.

-v-v-v-v-v-

The sound of children just a distant hum as Eileen and her mother sip at their tea, she found herself pleased at the awkward silence between them. If Eileen were lucky, it would mean she'd get the first word in when it became time to speak. Setting aside her cup, she let her eyes go to her father's boyhood family portrait. In it, he stood between his mother and father, wearing an expression not much different from the one Severus had used in their family's portrait last year.

She liked now how she could see more of her father in her son than she could see of Tobias. The depthless eyes her son had would always remind Eileen of the man she fell in love with, but as Severus grew… He became more and more like a Prince. He knew how to walk just as she did, how to flaunt his knowledge and soon, she hoped, he'd learn how to smirk as she did. Eileen would feel much more secure about him and his future if he learned how to put that razor sharp edge Princes' were known for into his smiles.

'_All in good time_', Eileen reminded herself. With time Severus would learn how to ooze danger even as he was smiling.

A particularly loud 'thunk' coming from down the hall, Eileen winced. She hoped that hadn't been her son who took a tumble. Giving her mother a dull glare, she said, "I never did like Walburga and I dare say I dislike her sons equally, if not more so."

Dabbing at her lips with a handkerchief, Eileen's mother raised an eyebrow and set aside her own teacup. "I'll have you know, Eileen, it took quite a bit of convincing to get Walburga to allow her sons for a visit. You should be happy that's she letting her _toujours pur_boys visit with your little mongrel."

"Don't talk about him as if he's some sort of dog! He's just as much your grandson as he's my son!" Eileen snapped.

Lips thin, the older woman said, "I love Severus, but it does not change the fact he's a Half-Blood and therefore my – and your – lesser."

"I can't believe you!" Eileen growled as she got up and threw her napkin down in the armchair she'd been previously sat in. Looking to get away, she told her mother, "I'm going to check on the children."

Rolling her eyes, the elder looked as if she might say more when–

"Take it back! _Take it_**_back_**!"

Sharing a glance with her mother, she and Eileen race from the room and down the hall to find the older Black boy pummeling Severus as the younger cried beside them. Pulling the boy off, Eileen demanded, "What's going on! What are you hitting my son for?"

Small face livid, Sirius screamed, "We were playing Aurors and then he started making up stories!"

"What kind of stories?" Eileen asked as she began to maneuver the child to his brother's side as her mother helped Severus up.

"He– He–" the little brother stuttered.

Giving his brother an impatient look, Sirius covered Regulus's mouth and shouted furiously, "He said I couldn't go to the Ministry when I'm all grownup 'cause I'll die there! He said I'd end up on the wrong side of the veil and be dead!" Crossing his arms, the boy yelled defiantly, "I'm not dying like that! It's a stupid way to die! And when I told him to stop fibbing he told me he wasn't! I told Severus to take it back, but he wouldn't! So, I had to hit him."

"You never have to hit anyone," Eileen told the boy shortly as she turned her eyes on her son. Had he just seen how someone else died? How and why? Or, was this just as Sirius said? Just a… _story._

Turning her attention to the still sniffling Regulus, she inquired fussily, "I assume he told you of your demise as well, Regulus?" The small boy gave her a confused look, as if he didn't quite know what she was saying. Maybe he didn't, she thought. Too impatient to wait any longer, she reiterated her question, "Did Severus tell you how you'd die as well?"

Face screwed up into a truly ghastly expression, Regulus shook his head. "I don't w-want Sirius to d_-die_!"

"Oh belt up! You'll be long dead before he is!" Severus snapped from where he was simmering in his grandmother's arms.

"Severus!" Eileen couldn't help but gasp. The story of the older black boy ending up on the wrong side of the veil was bad enough, but to hear the little one would be dead before his brother? How much worse a fate could the Black line face?

Clutching her grandson with bone-white knuckles, Eileen's mother remarked, "It might be time for Sirius and Regulus to go home."

"You might be right," the younger sighed. "Tell their mother Severus isn't... _feeling well,_ I suppose."

Nodding as she got up and took both boys by the hand, Eileen's mother agreed. "I will do so," and with that, lead the boys toward their main floo.

Scooting over to her son, who was still seated on the floor, Eileen wrapped an arm around him. "Why did you make up such mean stories about Sirius and Regulus? Don't you know we had them come over so you could make friends with children your own age?"

Sniveling, Severus pushed his face into her chest and muttered, "They weren't stories, Mummy. Besides, Sirius is a real prat. We always have to play games _his _way and I don't like it."

"If they weren't stories, what were they?" Eileen demanded with her heart palpitating.

Eyes lightless, the boy met her stare and explained, "They're like my nightmares about the Dark Lord and Nagini. 'Cept, it didn't happen while I was sleeping. We were playing – just like Sirius said – I bumped into Regulus pretty hard and then my head, it _stung,_Mummy. Like a gigantic bee got me between my eyes. I got scared and thought I might fall asleep, like the first time when I was little, but I remember how scared you got and told myself I couldn't."

Curling in on himself, Severus whispered, "Then I _saw._I saw that Regulus was so thirsty and he was going to get a drink when a bunch of dead people started eating him as he screamed and _screamed_, Mummy. Sirius was in the Ministry, I don't know how I know that, but I do, Mum, and I saw him, he – he _fell_into the veil! But not really, the cackling witch spelled him so he'd fall and the boy with green eyes, he was there _too_, Mummy."

"Boy with green eyes?" Eileen uttered fearfully.

Her son bobbed his head. Then, shivering, he whispered, "It's after Nagini bites me that I see him. He's there and I know that he's important because I really, really love how green his eyes are, but… I hate him. 'Cause he's proof that I failed, but I don't know what I failed, Mummy!"

Bursting into tears, Severus buries his face in her lap.

Shushing him, Eileen began to wonder why her son was seeing how people died. Had she done something? Had _Severus_? Or was he just a puppet belonging to fate for a divine purpose she was too insignificant to understand? Eileen didn't know and it scared her badly enough she asked the one person who might have a better idea than she, her son.

"Why do you see peoples' deaths, my love?" she implored of Severus.

All of his six years then, Severus shook his head and whimpered, "I don't know, Mummy. I just see it. I'm scared now, Mummy. 'Cause I didn't know those boys all that well and I saw how they died. Am I gonna have to see how you and Granny die now, too?"

Clutching him to her breast, Eileen stood up with her son in her arms and began to pace with him as she used to when he couldn't sleep as an infant with colic. Hating the thought that he might, Eileen lied right through her teeth. "No, Severus, you aren't ever going to see how Mummy or Granny dies."

"Okay," Severus sniffed with all the trust and hope of boy too young to know not to.

Swallowing thickly as she combed her fingers through the boy's hair, Eileen couldn't help the awful thoughts that surfaced within her mind:

_I never wanted to be a mother, I never wanted Severus and I certainly don't want to deal with whatever_**_this_**_is!_

_(Maybe I should have drowned him)._

* * *

**Well, readers, what do you think of this development? Interesting, no? Well, I hope you liked it and I'll be happy to read what your theorizing after this chapter about Severus!**

**I know it's not been long since the last update, but since then, I've written two new fics you can read! They're called _Idolatry and Amaranthine. Idolatry _is a Rod/Bella drabble and _Amaranthine _a one-shot about the Greengrass sisters, Daphne and Astoria. I hope you guys will go check them out between this chapter and next!**

**Thank you to reviewers, Nymphxdora, Jemennuie, NightmarePrince, Marie E. Brooke, Dixie.f.9, Alyssialui, Spidey Legend, Dark One Rising, KodeV, 2sidedstoryteller29995, and Saint Snape! You guys are spectacular :)**

**Thank you all very much for reading and pretty please review guys!**

**UPDATED: 4/23/16**


	4. IV

**_Mettle_**

* * *

The week following the incident with the Black boys was a trying one. Her son broke down into tears at odd intervals, woke in the nights quailing for it all to end and Eileen didn't care to admit it, but she got lost in herself a lot more than she should have that week. Every time her son began to cry, she would wonder if he was seeing some awful vision and when he came into frightful alertness in the dead of night she wondered if the fates were trying to break him.

(_Her beautiful boy was hurting and she...was cracking_)

And Eileen knew she oughtn't, but sometimes, instead of tending to him like a good mother would, she fell away. She'd take her leave from the world and absorb herself in the safer one that lay in her head. It was the pretty world she'd built up as a little girl; it was open and it's skies an always morning sunrise hue where she could lay beneath trees and rest and dip her toes in brooks and lakes and relax.

Her mother became increasingly short with Eileen during the week. She did not mind tending to her grandson, because unlike Eileen, she felt no need to escape reality. The older woman had always been good about facing things head-on, not like Eileen. It was one night, quite late, definitely past midnight, but not early enough for the birds to begin their morning's songs when Eileen's mother grew scant in her patience. As she had been soothing Severus almost solely on her own for the past day and a half.

Severus wailing against her front, she'd gone to Eileen who was upright in her bed, but immobile and slapped her. And then she slapped the younger woman once more. Sputtering, Eileen had turned wide, disturbed eyes on her mother.

"What…?" she'd whispered, feeling the tingling skin of her cheek.

Eyes glittering like cut diamonds, the older woman snarled, "You can't continue to do this! You can't hide when things get hard, Eileen!"

"Mum..." the younger whimpered, tears spilling down the expanses of her face and dripping off the point of her chin.

Sighing, her mother sank down beside Eileen and brought her in close; she settled Severus, the poor boy, to finish his sniffling between them. "Eileen, oh Eileen," the elder mumbled, taking her daughter in her arms.

Rocking her like she'd once done when she'd been terribly small and upset over something much bigger than herself, her mother kissed her brow. "You probably don't remember, as you were barely out of nappies at the time, but...you had night terrors. They scared your father and I very terribly, you'd wake shrieking like someone was killing you and when we'd come to your room, you'd look like you were having a fit."

Lifting her eyes to meet the older woman's, Eileen felt very much like a child as she whispered, "What did you do?"

"Your father couldn't bare to see you, he'd sit out in the hall and talk to himself. From what I remember, it was usually some litany along the lines of 'it's okay, just a terror, no one's dying...' I, though, would go in and hold you. Like I am now, actually. Sometimes, if you didn't go right back to sleep, I'd ask what you had seen. Usually, you couldn't tell me. Once, though, you had an answer for me that was quite cryptic. I must say, though, dear, I don't even quite recall it now. But...you said something like, 'bad stuff, Mummy. There was yelling and screaming and crying and then I saw green. It hurt, Mummy.'

"You can imagine that scared me quite a bit. I tried to take you to some fortune tellers, but all they gave was rubbish about you being a powerful witch, marrying well and baring many fine sons that would prove to be equally powerful. Now, I never doubted you'd be an excellent witch, but I could tell even when you were all of three that you were going to be a stubborn one. That you were going to make a little path for yourself, not follow the dream I had for you - which, actually matched quite well with what the tellers gave me."

Musing on what her mother was telling her, Eileen looked to where Severus had fallen back asleep against her middle. He was a dashing boy. Fit for old Roman statues and Italian paintings, she thought.

"When did I stop having the terrors?" she asked.

Her mother stroked Eileen's hair. "Funnily enough, it's after you told me what you dreamed that you stopped having them. I suppose it carried on for, oh, eight or so months."

"Severus tells us all the time what he sees, but they never stop."

Eileen's mother's countenance twisted with grief. "No, they haven't."

"Do you think we should ignore them? Maybe they'd stop if we didn't pay them attention..." Eileen suggested.

Her mother's face sharpened. "What? Don't act like a silly girl, Eileen. These - _visions _\- are not going away! They never will I bet and I will not have you become an idiot on my watch! What would your father say?"

Shamed, she cast her eyes away and whispered, "Mother, I fear it's my fault he sees what he sees."

"Why?" The elder demanded. "Have you done something?"

Taking in a ragged breath, she shook her head and whispered, "I-I never wanted Severus, Tobias, he-" Turning into her mother's shoulder, Eileen cried.

"What did that filthy ape do to you?" her mother hissed.

Eileen knew her mother had the wrong idea instantly, and despite all her loathing for what her husband had done, she loved him yet. "No, n-no. We fought when he proposed. I told him I wanted none and that didn't please him at all. It was an awful fight and he even hit me. He'd never done that before, and I - I conceded to his wishes. I told him one child."

"Severus," the elder remarked, faintly.

"Yes, he was it and I hadn't even _wanted _him. I had to learn to like him - _love _him! I fear that I am being punished because I did not want him!"

Eileen's mother grabbed her chin and pushed it up so she was forced to stare straight into her eyes. "Don't be a ninny, Eileen. The fates are not punishing you through Severus, they are challenging you, yes, but that little boy is a_ gift_. Children are always gifts, do you understand, Eileen? I can't tell you how many children your father and I lost before you. When you were born...we were elated and even though we never seem to see eye to eye, I would not change anything."

Her eyes softening, the old woman touched the little boy's crown. "If I wished for things to be different, who's to say we'd still have little Severus, here? Eileen, I love him - so, _so _much. And even though he'll never be my equal - and never yours, I adore him too much to care."

"Oh, Mum," Eileen sniffed.

Patting her daughter's hand, the elder raised up and out of the bed. "Get some sleep, love. Severus is going to undoubtedly need you tomorrow," she reminded her.

"What about you, Mum? Shouldn't you get some sleep?"

"I will, I will," her mother grumbled, "Eileen...tomorrow I'm going out. To tea and likely dinner, at the Malfoys. You have to be able to handle him. Keebler's pants with children and Tack's too old to be soothing tantrum prone boys with her frail bones."

Snuggling her son close as she lay down, she agreed. "Yes, of course, Mother, for you."

Kindly, the woman smiled and tipped her head at Severus. "No, my dear, for _Severus_."

"For Severus..." Eileen repeated as her and her son's bedroom door closed.

Watching the rise and fall of her son's chest, the woman once again considered his Romanesque features and wondered, as she drifted off to sleep, if he wouldn't fit in among the fables of demigod children.

He had the looks and powers for it, after all.

-v-v-v-v-v-

"Give me a kiss goodbye, Severus," Eileen's mother insisted as she fixed her hat to leave.

The little boy threw himself at the older woman instead. "Do you have to go, Granny?" he whined, his little fingers bunching in her robe.

Sending Eileen a look as she held the boy close, the elder sighed and answered, "Yes, my dear, I must."

"You'll be home soon, though, right?" Severus demanded.

Smiling, she gave the boy's head a kind pat. "Before you know it," the grandmother answered. Stepping away from boy and mother then, the woman took some floo powder and stepped into her fireplace, calling her destination and disappearing.

Putting in as much exuberance as she could in her voice, Eileen asked her son, "What would you like to do this afternoon, Severus?"

He gave a shrug in reply.

"Hm..." the woman murmured. Eyeing the frosty white ground outside the kitchen's tall window, Eileen recalled how the pond had iced over around Christmas. Her son might like taking a stroll, the pond always did look prettiest in the winter, she thought. "How about a nice walk outside?"

Severus peaked around his curtain of hair. "Can we go to the pond? Granny and I went ice skating on it before."

Pleased by the response, Eileen gave a grin full of teeth and declared, "Of course, love!"

Together, the duo bundled up for the chilly weather and headed down to the pond.

Eileen was relieved by how peaceful an afternoon it ended up being, they skated around for an hour and when Severus began to complain about being cold, she cast a warming charm on him and let them skate some more.

After a while, she had to admit that she was tired and called Severus along. The boy, scrubbing at his eyes, was more than happy to take her hand and together, mother and son went back to their home.

"Did you have a lot of fun, this afternoon?" Eileen asked her child.

Severus bobbed his head, "Uh-huh." Then, with very big eyes, he looked up at her, "How come we don't play together every day, Mum?"

Stiffening, Eileen asked in a painfully breezy tone, "What do you mean?"

"You teach me potions and stuff - which is _wicked_, Mummy, but we don't play a lot. Usually, it's Granny who goes on walks with me and plays soldier and cars with me."

Eileen didn't know what to say. What _could _she say? All this time...all this time she'd been scared. Very scared. She didn't know what was wrong with her son and feared for him so much that she didn't want to even dare touch him lest she break him further. But, her mother, she'd said it wasn't Eileen's fault. If Eileen were to admit it, she'd say she had logically known that all along, but it hadn't stopped the guilt that had festered in her heart. It hadn't stopped her from fearing and loathing and hiding from her son, because Eileen believed she had ruined him.

Clearing her throat, she told her son about his grandfather instead; hoping he was still young enough to be mislead, hoping he was still young enough that he didn't realize how terrible a mother she was. "My father did not play with me much, either, you know. But, I suppose I didn't care much for playing. I preferred potions to games and books to dolls. You though, my love, are a little different. You like potions and books and all the same things I did as a little girl, but unlike me, you want to play with your toys and games."

"How come you didn't want to play when you were little, then?" her son asked.

Wistfully, Eileen can remember how she'd always been looking up at her father's broad shoulders. How she wished to stand beside him instead of having to watch from behind. "I suppose I wanted to be an adult. I wanted your grandfather to look at me and see me as his equal - not as a silly child. And thankfully, he understood this. He helped me learn enough so he could do exactly that and so, I never had to be much of a little girl. I didn't have to play with dolls or occupy myself with games of pretend. He saw me as an intelligent mind and treated me as such.

"You might not understand this yet, Severus, but some adults are going to look at you with your big eyes and tiny stature and think you deserve nothing more than to be seen and not heard. They will think you should be shooed off to other rooms to 'play' while the adults 'talk'. They will feel you are a lesser simply because you do not have age or experience."

Mulling this over, the child concluded concisely, "You don't play with me a lot because adults don't play?"

"In a manner of speaking, that's right," Eileen replied. Trust that her son would find reason in her ramblings. "It's more like I never got the hanging of play because I was always catching up with the adults around me."

Severus squeezed her hand. "I think that's sad, Mum. You should have played. It's _fun_! Especially cars and soldier."

Chuckling, Eileen swept her boy into her arms and kissed his cheek. "Maybe I'll try it, just for you, my love."

"I love you, Mummy," Severus sighed into her hair.

Squeezing him close, the woman returned the adoration, "And I love you, always and forever."

* * *

**How do you like this chapter? Any thoughts on what was said?**

**To reviewers, KodeV, Syl, 1, Professor Radar, Saint Snape, Emma C.C.S., The Dark One Rising, Tarnished Libris, and Jemmennuie; thanks so much for your feedback :)**

**Thank you very much for reading and pretty please review!**

**UPDATED: 5/24/15**


	5. V

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Stepping out onto her bedroom's balcony in her shift, Eileen felt the press of muggy air on her skin and had her lungs leaded by its' oppressiveness. Her eyes rising to the waxing gibbous moon, they fell just as quickly to the ground it shined upon. The grass, even in the late night, she knew was the emerald green that would feel soft beneath your toes. The kind that made you wish summer stretched forever and forever on...

But it was half over now.

She thought of Severus inside, he was tossing in her bed now. Her mother had forced the boy to take his own room at the beginning of summer, stating at six and a half he was too big to be sharing a bed with his mother. He'd pitched a fit. Part of Eileen had been warmed that Severus felt so deeply for her. Was happy that the thought of sleeping just a room over affected him so, but it also scared her because she was forced to wonder if she hadn't made him too attached to her.

Her mother hadn't let him get away with it, though, she made him take his own room despite Eileen's own weakness that lead her to murmur that she didn't mind sharing for a little while longer.

_"If he doesn't learn to sleep alone now, how's he ever going to function in society, Eileen?"_

She flinched at the memory of the words. That was the last thing she wanted, for her son to fail to function in society. Her Severus was _such _a bright boy! He had to do well...he _had _to. Someone had to make up for the shame she'd brought the Prince line - or so her mother had mentioned once or twice since she came home to her. Eileen knew her mother liked having her more than _not _having her, but it didn't change the embarrassment she was made to feel in the company of her peers.

Eileen knew almost everyone of her year at Hogwarts (and below and above) had followed respectable paths. Yes, there had been the rumor Harbin Zabini married his girlfriend, Blanche Davis - of Eileen's year - as soon as she finished her schooling because she was pregnant, and maybe people liked to whisper about the Crabbe heir having a bit of a sleeping draught addiction. But both failures were so easily swept beneath the rug considering the lives they lead.

The Zabini's girl, Glinda, was perfectly exquisite - or so Eileen's mother said. And Crabbe was married, had a son and worked for Abraxas Malfoy, all of which were quite good for a man with as dull a wit as he. If anything, his mild addiction seemed more like something to pity than to gossip about. After all, what man from time to time didn't grow too fond of something? If not sleeping draughts, it was alcohol or if they were a particularly pious man, it might be food they indulged too much in.

Eileen, though...

She'd not just done the stint in the muggle world, like Walburga Black had, but she'd actually _worked _and _married _there. She'd birthed a _son _there! In the respectable pureblood circles, she really was something of a shame. She knew mothers like Druella Black, Blanche Zabini, Anna Wilkins, and so many others warned their daughters against Eileen's course. Look what it'd done to _her, _after all. She lived like a recluse in her mother's home with a son that no one knew beyond his besotted grandmother's good word.

"Mummy?" a little voiced called from the bed in her room.

Jumping, Eileen twisted a lock of her hair between her fingers and called back, "I'm right here, my love."

A few moments later, her son was tucked against her side. His hair was matted against his face and when she pushed it back, it was damp. The nightmares always did leave him soaked in sweat.

Smiling at him in the fair moonlight, she asked, "Why are you awake, hm? Shouldn't you be trying to catch up on some sleep?"

"I don't like sleeping alone, it's scarier when I wake up."

Sighing, the woman squeezed her son close and said, "We'll buy you a cat - or better yet, how about a dog? I hear that they're excellent bed companions."

"No dogs," her son declared, "They smell."

Laughing softly, Eileen bent down to bestow his crown a kiss and said with finality, "It's a cat you'll be getting, then."

"I like the name Boots," Severus offered around a yawn. "May we find a cat with white paws?"

Gently guiding her son back to her bed, she heard herself agree in a tired mutter, "Yes, we can."

Soon enough, they were beneath her sheets for a second time that night. Her son settled himself with his head on her shoulder and she closed her eyes only after she laid an arm across him. Soon, they were both far into the darkness known as exhaustion.

-v-v-v-v-v-

"Granny, what do you think of Boots?"

Eileen's mother studied the scruffy creature close before giving an approving nod of her head. "He's a fine tomcat," she told her grandson.

Beaming Severus turned to the little creature and cooed, "Here that? Granny likes you!"

"That she does," Eileen agreed distractedly, "Severus, lovely, why don't you go set up a spot for his dish in the kitchen?"

His dark eyes glittered with excitement. "Sure, Mum!" And with his cat still tucked beneath his chin, the boy trotted off to complete the task.

There was silence between daughter and mother. It was not a good silence, no peace lay in it, nor was there kindness; in fact, it was heavy with an argument. After a long, _long_ minute, the older woman hissed, "Boots? You let my grandson give it a _common _name?"

"Actually, mother, the cat's name is Sir Knight Boot E. the Third, but we agreed that was too much a mouthful and decided we'd introduce him to you as Boots. Though, I suppose we could have done a better job of giving him a nickname...How does Boo tickle your fancy?" Eileen bit out with a caustic edge.

Meeting her daughter's gaze, the old woman sneered. "Are you being _snarky _with me, young lady?"

"What if I am?"

Eileen's mother made a derisive noise in the back of her throat and changed topic, "He's almost seven."

"Mother, he's _just _turned six!" the younger argued.

Turning to face her daughter face on, the older woman declared, "I think it's time we see if we can't get him acquainted with the right sort again."

Crossing her arms, Eileen laughed mockingly. "Really? You _do_, do you? Remember how that went, Mother!?"

"Listen, I've been talking with Crabbe - his boy's nearly the same age and gets on quite well with the Malfoy's heir – Lucius. I'm sure he can do the same with Sev-"

The younger threw up her hands. "No! My son is too smart for any daft lads, like those Crabbes produce! Maybe a Malfoy can suffer their company, but let's face it, Mother! Yes, Malfoys are clever, but they are not _prodigies_! Severus, I, _father _were such! We can barely suffer the regular sort, an idiot is unbearable!"

Blinking, but undeterred, her mother fired off another name. "How about the Carrows? Abbas - he was two years ahead of you - he's quite interested in getting his daughter and son meeting the right kind, such as your son. The girl's a bit old, but the _boy_-"

"Sociopaths. They are sociopaths mother, all of them! I remember Abbas very well, do you know he used to loiter by the girls dorm? _In the middle of the night_? Mother, I don't know what fantasies he had running through his head, but I can tell you now they were far from kind and probably twelve kinds of perverted and sadistic!"

Face twisted from her irritation, the old woman hissed, "The Blacks aren't going to let their sons anywhere near yours after last time, and there are very few who are interested in letting their children near Severus when the _Blacks _won't! Eileen, you cannot be this picky! Severus will do with meeting anyone at this point! He just needs to start making _acquaintances, _I don't expect them to be best mates!"

"Mother, stop this! It's ridiculous, all right? Let _me _find him a child his age. I've _told _you about Quincy's son several times but you always brush it off like that's not even _possible_!" Eileen yelled, her face a terrible hue of rouge.

Standing her ground, her mother countered, "It's not! He's a damn half-blood! If you start socializing Severus with them, he'll _never _move away from them! He might even start befriending _mudbloods, _Eileen! Mudbloods! Do you want him to be a shame to the Prince line as well?"

A beat of quiet fell between the two women after the last stand.

"Maybe he doesn't have to be a part of the Prince line at all," Eileen proclaimed in a voice just a tad too loud to be a whisper. "Maybe, Severus and I could take our leave right here. I know a bit of Italian, my potions skills are good enough to support us. I could take us to Italy and then you could forget you ever had a daughter or grandson. Better yet, _we _could forget you!"

Hands clasped over her mouth, Eileen's mother looked several times smaller. She appeared as what she was, an aging woman, small, and one of the last wonders of a different time. Grabbing her daughter's arm, she pleaded, "Don't. Don't do that to me, Eileen. Don't take Severus, don't take my last chance!"

Anger evaporating at the crystalizing of tears in her mother's eyes, Eileen felt her shoulders slump as she relented. "I won't," she said, "Just...let me take him to see Quincy's boy, please? You never know, Mother, they might absolutely loath each other!"

Her mother gave a watery chuckled and enveloped her in a rare, close hug. "Oh, sometimes...Sometimes Eileen you really manage to frighten me. I don't know what I would do if you took Severus away."

"Does that mean you approve of my plan?" the younger inquired, having not forgotten her wish for her boy to meet her friend's son.

Letting her go, the woman gave a sad nod. "It is," she concurred. "I don't have much of a choice, though, do I?"

"He's my son, not yours," Eileen explained.

A bit of a smile perked the corners of her mother's lips. "Figuring that out now, are you?" she teased.

"Yes, I am." The young woman smirked back.

-v-v-v-v-v-

In a room with walls of wood paneling, a couple, woman and two little boys breathed life into it with upbeat talk and occasional fits of laughter. The boys were on the ground racing cars on a toy track while Eileen, Quincy, and his wife chatted over some tea.

"Hey, Sev'rus!" Quirinus said, "Let's play checkers."

Her son, for his part made a scoffing noise and declared, "Chess is more fun, you know! Mum's taught me, d'you have the pieces for it?"

The towheaded boy looked to his father. "Daddy?" he inquired.

Smiling at his son, Quincy said, "Check the closet in the hall."

"Okay!"

And the boys scampered off together.

Turning to Eileen, Quincy's wife remarked, "He's a sharp one, isn't he?"

"I suppose so," she agreed under the wide, unblinking eyes of the woman.

The other woman smiled even wider and commented, "Quirinus is a bright child too, he's reading already!"

"My, that's wonderful!" Eileen agreed.

Quincy, from between them, cleared his throat and shouted, "Do you boys need help over there?"

"No, Daddy!" Quirinus called back.

There was a sound of a crash, followed by Severus yelling, "That was just the broom! We found the pieces too!"

All of them relaxing, the adult shared a grin as they boys came running back and began to set up their sides of the chessboard. "Do yours move?" Severus inquired as he finished lining up his pawns.

"Daddy?" Quirinus deferred.

Laughing, despite the odd look his wife was giving Eileen's son, Quincy replied, "Not like you're thinking, Severus. You'll have to move them yourself."

"That's fine," he concluded as they finished setting up the game. "Quirinus, even though white's suppose to go first, I'll get you move first."

The boy stared at the pieces for a moment, and then complained, "I don't know how to play!"

"Just move a piece and I'll tell you if you're doing it wrong," Severus replied.

Sticking his tongue out between his teeth, the boy went for the king, but Eileen's son shook his head and told him, "You can't do that. Besides, you want to keep that safe."

Sending his new friend a nod, the boy went for a pawn instead. Watching carefully as she and Quirinus's parents chat idly about the royal family, Eileen immediately noted how Severus's hand went to his head and he curled in on himself. Standing up, she murmured, "Severus, love?"

Eyes half-lidded, his gaze met hers and she _knew. _Severus was seeing something awful and there was no way to stop it. Getting on he knees beside her son, she asked, "Are you having one of your headaches?"

His face swirled with confusion before he understood. Then, he was nodding and reaching for her. Picking him up, she turned to Quincy and his wife and tutted, "He has headaches sometimes, and they're really quite awful. We haven't figure out why yet...But I do know he needs a nice dark room to lay down in and rest."

Quincy gave a curious cock of his head. "Sure. I suppose we'll have to pick up this play date at another time, eh?"

"Yes, I think we shall," Eileen agreed. She felt better about the day, though, at the very least she would not have to cross this child off the list of the few she was willing to let her dear Severus near.

Tiny fingernails suddenly pierced the skin on the back of her neck sharply. Gasping, Eileen heard her son begin to murmur, "Dark lord. He's got to know..."

"No, Severus," she hissed into her boy's hair as she hurried for the door.

Following close, Quincy questioned, "Neither of you are looking too well, should I get your mother?"

"I'm not a little girl," Eileen snapped as Severus's fingers dug deeper into her flesh. "Oh - Quincy, I don't - thank you for worrying, I'll be in touch soon..." and with that, she stepped out of his home and disapparated without a care for neighbors or passerby.

Severus was her priority. He always would be.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Tucking Severus beneath her blankets, Eileen sat beside her feverish looking child and asked, "What did you see, my love?"

Her son looked up at her with his lip wobbling and told her, "He died 'cause of the Dark Lord too - 'cept instead of getting bitten by his snake, the Dark Lord made him try and kill the green-eyed boy, but Quirinus couldn't, y'see. So, he blistered and burned up like he was on fire until he was just dead."

Feeling quite a bit more terrified, Eileen realized that this "Dark Lord" was very much a reoccurring theme in her son's seeings. She wondered, did he see deaths only linked to his cause, or did he see them all? She hated the thought, but she almost wanted to test it. Maybe she should take him to a muggle park to socialize with unmagical children. She did not want to start another vision, but she wanted – _needed _-to know what set them off and how to stop them.

"Do you know who the Dark Lord actually is, my love? Maybe his name?" Eileen asked rather nonsensically as she smoothed the blankets around son. She didn't really care if he did know, Eileen just wanted to keep him talking a little longer - put her heart at ease just as much as his own. She needed to know he was still alive and well and he needed to know she was real and not those scary sights he saw.

Her son gave a tired shake of his head, "No, Mummy, but I will eventually, won't I?"

Eileen paused in her fretting. Meeting cauldron black eyes, she questioned in a deceptively light tone, "What do you mean, my love?"

"Well, I'm going to meet him someday, right? Or at least it feels pretty sure that I will. I die 'cause of him, Quirinus dies 'cause of him, so does Regulus an' Sirius an' - an' I don't know...a lot of people," he finished.

Clenching the duvet between her fingers, Eileen asked, "Don't think you could avoid it, now? I mean, you know who he is and surely-"

"It feels very set, mum. Everything tells me it ought to happen that way or - or maybe the green-eyed boy I like and hate won't be there, and I can't have that because then things won't be how they're supposed to be," Severus told her.

Clutching her son's face, she made him meet her gaze as she growled, "You'll stay away from that Dark Lord, Severus Snape! You hear me? If you dare go near him I'll do more than spank you, understand?"

Face paling with his fear, he grabbed at her hands and agreed. "Please, I will, let me go, Mummy!"

"Alright," Eileen replied as she let her grip slacken and her hands fall away. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that the threat wouldn't be enough later, when it actually mattered, but for now...

For now it was enough of a promise from a little boy. However, someday she'll have to find something stronger.

Eileen feared greatly for her son, the thought of him dying was terrible enough. But she had to wonder, why did he witness what he did if he wasn't allowed to change them? What could fate possibly want from her boy if not to change things? Was it because she did something wrong?

She was beginning to doubt her mother. Surely, she _had _to do something for her son to get puzzle pieces of the future through gruesome deaths of his compatriots. Eileen must have had a wrong thought or made a bad choice somewhere along the line, because Severus couldn't have! He was just a bitty boy. Hardly capable of comprehending why one boy would get all the fortune and another nothing, he only knew fair as equal and had yet to understand the nuances of tradition.

Had she deviated from some set plan? Was Eileen's son paying for her mistakes? Was fate scaring her son onto the path where Quirinus burned outside a fire, where little Regulus died before his brother? Where Sirius's demise was met somewhere inside the ministry and then, where Severus's was a god-awful end thrust upon him by sharp teeth of a snake?

Despite her best efforts, Eileen had to take the blame. Severus was just a boy, after all, and this would not be the first story of an innocent being inflicted with unwarranted evils due to the sins of another.

* * *

**How do you feel about this chapter? It's quite long, yeah? I hope you liked all that happened in it!**

**To my reviewers, 2sidedstoryteller29995, Alyssialui, Bela013, The Dark One Rising, Sarah AB, Saint Snape, Dixie.f.9. and Emma C.C.S.; thank you all!**

**Also! You know what would be super appreciated? If you went and checked out my fic "Vanished" it's about Astoria, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and several other Slytherins during the events of the last book while at Hogwarts. **

**Thank you for reading, please review!**

**EDITED: 6/27/15**


	6. VI

**_Mettle_**

* * *

In the waning light of day, Eileen from beside her favorite parlor's hearth, gazed solemnly at the snoozing body of her only son. Severus's face was slack and, hopefully, his sleep was just as untroubled as his appearance. Setting aside the astrology tome she had been skimming, Eileen rose up from her seat and went to stand beside her boy. Severus's cat, Boots, opened one yellowish eye and then closed it when he saw that she had no intention of bothering his heater.

Severus was almost nine. In another month, he'd be past it. Taking in his stretched out body, she could see that Severus was growing taller (though, she feared he'd never reach the towering height her father had boasted), his face thinning and sharping, and his _eyes…_

They were her Tobias's. A beautiful cauldron black that could glimmer when pleased and glint when angry. The rest of the time, however, his eyes were constantly dulled with too much knowledge. Eileen had never thought it feasible, but there did seem to be a point where man simply could know too much about something – _anything – _and her son had reached that limit somewhere in his eight (almost nine) short years.

If Eileen had been the woman she'd been when she came to her mother's home all those years ago, she might have wept. But, thankfully, she wasn't. Time had strengthened her; she knew how to take away the dullness, she knew how to bring out that beautiful glitter of joy to her only son's somber eyes. As for the glint of fury? That was the world's job. Eileen felt badly for allowing that glint to rise in his eyes, but Severus needed to know what their world was made of. He needed to know how their world was structured, where he stood among his contemporaries and not-contemporaries.

If he'd been pure, like her, like her mother, like her father and all the Princes recorded in their history, she might not have had to teach him. An arrogant boy could learn all on his own where he stood in the pecking order, simply because what gave him his lot was his talents, his wits, and his strength. But for a little half-blood like her dear Severus?

He was already halfway down in that pecking order and he would face greater retribution if he were ignorant of such a fact. Severus may lay above Muggleborns – even some Half-Bloods, given his Prince-blood – but, no matter how he may try, he'd never eclipse the purer witches and wizards of their world. Severus was always to be little more than a dog to the Blacks, Malfoys, Notts, and Parkinsons. Even the less uptight Purebloods would look at her son's pedigree and blame his deficiencies on the mixing of magic and muggle.

It was because of these dismal facts that Eileen was working so _hard _with her son to give him the sharp advantage of knowledge in all the key subjects he would soon be learning at Hogwarts. He would never eclipse a Pureblood by simply _breathing_, but he could certainly make himself a name in their world yet. All he had to do was prove how smart, how talented, how _worthy _he was of what little status he did hold among his peers and, someday, the mistake she'd made by loving and mating with a Muggle could be swept beneath the rug.

(Or so Eileen and her mother hoped).

Eileen, though, feared that such a mistake couldn't always be forgotten. After all, once a blood-traitor, always a blood-traitor, right?

Her son, far too sensitive to everything and everyone, began to stir under her scrutiny and opened his dark eyes.

"Mum?" he said.

Crouching down to her knees, Eileen pressed him back into the sofa and asked, "Are you in pain, my love?"

"No, Mum," he answered.

Pressing her cool hands to his cheeks and then his forehead, she questioned hesitantly, "Do you wish to speak of what you saw, Severus?"

Sighing, her son turned his face away and muttered, "What's it matter? You probably already know, I distinctly remember screaming."

"You gave the girl and her family quite a fright, telling her the things you did," Eileen admitted quietly. "But girls her age bounce back quite easily, I'm sure you haven't ruined her Christmas Holidays."

Hand resting on Boots, Severus whispered, "She was just an old lady, it really shouldn't have scared me like it did, but then she started _convulsing _in her chair and it brought on… her memories? Maybe that's what they were, because they sure do match with other things I know. Anyway, Mum, she was shaking and choking and all sorts of terrible things and these healers were grabbing her and yelling and I could see her seeing somebody else screaming in her memories. It was a guy, and she was crying his name over and over and _over_!

"'Frank! Frank, Frank, FrankFrankFrank–!'

"She said it so many times, Mum. I think she was even more scared for him than she was for herself. But then, when they weren't getting what they wanted from him, they started hurting her too! I could see in her memories of herself that she was screaming and she felt like she was on fire and everything inside her was melting and snapping until she was too messed up to even be bothered to so much as cry anymore.

"The worst part, though, was when she looked away from her husband and I saw _that _witch! The one that sent Sirius into the veil! Mum, she wasn't very old in that girl's memories. She couldn't – they could have – Mummy, the two of them might have gone to _school _together! And I could be going to school with that girl soon too!"

Crying then, Severus reached out to her and Eileen did not hesitate in bringing him into her lap. Cradling him, she shushed him as much as she could, even as they both knew that these visions he was witnessing came closer to fruition with each passing year. Kissing his right temple, Eileen made a promise she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep.

"I'm going to find out who this Dark Lord is, Severus. I'm going to find him and I'm going to figure out how to kill him before he can so much as lay a finger on you."

Her son's head shot up and she was forced to see true, unfathomable terror in her son's eyes. "No!" he cried. "No! No! No, you _can't_! It's not for you to deal with, that green-eyed boy, he was the world's last hope. I _know _he was! I _saw _it! I gave him things he needed in my last moment so he might rescue us all from the Dark Lord. Mum, don't try. He'll only kill you, like he kills everybody else."

Pushing his hair back from his face, Eileen told her son very firmly, "That's all very well, my love, but if he kills you, I won't have much of a reason to live and will probably die soon after you."

"I don't want you to die," Severus sniffed.

Stroking his face, she drew his gaze back to her. Eileen said, "Then let me try and get rid of the Dark Lord so you won't die."

Her son began to sob.

Eileen knew this was too big a decision to lie on an eight-year-old's shoulders, but if she didn't have his approval, how could she hunt this devil down without her conviction being muddled with guilt? If Eileen didn't have his blessing, she knew she wouldn't be able to do it. There was no way.

Finally, when Severus's tears died away, she asked, "What's your decision, Severus?"

"Do it," he croaked. "Find him. Kill him. Do whatever you have to so you won't die, Mummy."

Embracing her son in a long hug, she let the silence between them stretch on as the sun outside their parlor's tall windows set to be replaced by a pale crescent moon. Kissing the spot between his brows, Eileen whispered, "Thank you."

And together, mother and son got up to meet the last member of their small family for dinner.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Christmas a day past, Eileen bundled her son up in a coat and scarf before they headed for the day's destination. Her son, for his part, was the most excited she'd seen him all week.

Anxious, he asked, "Do you really think Quirinus will enjoy his gift?"

"Of course," she replied as she smiled down at him. Taking Severus outside, Eileen prepared them to apparate to the Quirrell's residence. "He's expressed his interest in airplanes before and I can't see why he wouldn't care for the model you bought him."

Still worried, Severus insisted, "What if he's already got this model?"

"Break his other," Eileen offered jokingly as she prepped them both to leave.

Severus looked at her doubtfully and opened his mouth to say something, but the pulling at their navel began and a moment later, they were catching their bearings beside the Quirrell's home. Walking up to the blue-gray door, Eileen only had to knock once before she heard the joyful screech of Quirinus.

"Daddy! It's Severus and Miss Eileen!"

Several thumps later, the boy opened the door, his blond, flyaway hair curled this way and that, and a broad grin giving life to his pallid face. Offering him a kind grin, Eileen asked, "How do you do, Quirinus?"

"Pretty good! You should hurry on in. I got a new game, Severus! It's called _Battle Ship_."

Her son thrust out his arms, which were laden with the Quirrells' gifts. A model plane for Quirinus, a good bottle of scotch for Quincy, and, for his wife, a pretty china mouse to add to the collection of critters she kept displayed on her fireplace's mantle.

Smiling back at his friend, Severus said, "That sounds wicked, but wouldn't you rather open gifts, first?"

Eileen was about to correct her greedy little son when Quincy's wife appeared, "Now, now boys," she tutted. "Let's have some tea first, eh?" Turning her big eyes on Eileen, she remarked, "Greedy little ankle-bitters, aren't they?"

Giving a slightly undignified snort, Eileen made a second noise, one of agreement and let the woman be the excellent hostess that she was and take her and Severus's coats so they could settle down in the living room. There, they found Quincy fiddling with his radio. Tuning the darn thing through static and crackling music, he only stood when he got what sounded to be like Christmas carols.

A jovial brightness to his pale eyes, he said to Eileen, "It adds nicely to the atmosphere, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, definitely," Eileen concurred as she accepted the cup of tea handed to her.

The boys were already laid out on the floor, sharing a plate of crispies as they got to work figuring out how to play Quirinus's new game.

For the next several hours, Eileen and Severus visited with the Quirrells' and had a swell time talking about things like the cruddy weather, about the sacking of the Home Affairs Minister in Northern Ireland, the Americans and their spaceship, and when they called the boys into the talk, Severus entertained them all with a blow-by-blow of a book called _A Wrinkle in Time__. _Quirinus chimed in from time to time with his own bit and so, Eileen was quite sure the story must have first belonged to her friend's son because it was definitely not a book she'd given Severus, nor was it one that her mother would have.

All in all, it was a satisfying afternoon. Severus liked playing with his friend and Eileen enjoyed partaking in company that was her mother's. When the evening began to descend, Eileen called on Quincy to show them out.

"It's a little late, I'd like if you stepped out with us to take a look about."

Her friend gave her an odd look, but he was a good man and did not deny her request. "Of course," he said.

Together, the three stepped out. Once on his stoop, Eileen told Severus, "Why don't you go make a sweep for Muggles, my love?"

Severus, happy to be given such a duty, hurried off down the street to look right and then, knowing she'd have a minute more when he went left, Eileen said, "I need your help."

"With what?" Quincy asked.

Eileen sent one last furtive glance to her son and informed him, "It has to do with Severus and his 'migraines'. They might be a bit more than what I've been leading you to believe these past couple years."

"And how do you think I can help?" he questioned with a doubtful frown. "I'm a librarian, not a healer."

Nodding, Eileen said, "And that's just what I need, I think. Look, I'll send you the details later in a letter, but I've heard through Mother that the librarian of Hogwarts is looking to leave as she's pregnant and I'd help you get the job there if you would be willing to assist me with Severus."

"I–" he paused. "What does a job at Hogwarts have to do with Severus?"

Frustrated as Severus came scampering back, Eileen only hissed, "Later. I'll send a letter." And then, with a forced smile, gave her friend a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for the afternoon, it was lovely."

Next, offering her hand to Severus, she prompted him, "Well?"

"It's safe!" he declared.

Keeping a steady stare with Quincy, she apparated herself and her son back to their home.

-v-v-v-v-v-

"Granny!" Severus yelled as he hugged the aging woman.

Squeezing him back, Eileen's mother beamed at her grandson and asked, "Did you have fun, Severus?"

Giving a vigorous nod, her son answered, "Oh yes, Quirinus had a great new game that we played!"

The old woman spoke with him for a few more moments about what he did, and ate, and talked about before shooing him off to put his new toy away in his rooms. Lifting her gaze to meet Eileen's, she asked, "How did things go with, Quincy, dear?"

"I promised I'd send him a detailed letter, but, knowing him, I'm sure he'll be highly interested in the position – no matter what the reason," Eileen said.

Face solemn, her mother brought a hand to still her anxious heart and sighed. "Excellent, I'll send Horace a letter about Quincy's interest so he may owl out an inquiry of his own to the man and let Albus know about him as a possible candidate."

Eileen smiled. "I think this is going to work, Mum," she proclaimed with a true feeling of hope blooming in her breast.

Smirking, her mother said, "Of course it's going to work! You planned it, my dear!"

"Thank you, Mum." Eileen laughed; she was very pleased by the compliment. Things were still very early, hardly past the planning stages, but if she and her mother orchestrated everything at all the right moments, Quincy would be working at Hogwarts the beginning of next fall and Eileen would have access to their library, records, and with time, the professors there as well.

She _would _figure out who this Dark Lord was. She would stop him. She would fix the world for her Severus. Eileen was going to set everything right – even if she'd have to die to keep her son from being killed himself.

* * *

**And this is chapter six! Thoughts?**

**To reviewers, Saint Snape, The Dark One Rising, KodeV, NightmarePrince, Kazetoame, HP the third; thank you all so much :)**

**Thank you all a ton for reading and pretty please review!**

**Edited: 4/15/16**


	7. VII

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Closed off in a smaller room that Eileen had begun to think of as her study and private parlor, she poured herself another cup of tea as Quincy's pale eyes darted between her and the stained glass windows to the right of them. It was the one that depicted some point of Prince history from a time Eileen knew she was at least a hundred years too young to know. Some of the people in the scene held swords, one - a lone woman - has a wand and from that wand, a beautiful sparkling rendition of green light flows from it. In pane next to that, a pair of boy-children crouched in on themselves to the back of the woman.

Vaguely, Eileen wondered if it wasn't made in tribute to the woman. A true mother lioness. Not like her...

Swallowing thickly, she lifted her eyes just in time for them to collide with the wide-eyed look of her friend. Her gasp was inaudible, but she knew the parting of her lips gave her away if the shifting of Quincy's brows were anything to go by.

"What you said-" he stopped. Eileen couldn't bear the heartbreak she saw cracking the pale eyes that had always showed a contented satisfaction before.

Eileen almost reached out to lay a hand upon his knee, but she stopped herself. It was far too intimate a thing to do to a married man, she thought. Bringing her hands to her lap, she tucked them there and nodded her head once. "Yes," she whispered. "It's all true. Severus has dreamt of Quirinus's, his own, the Black boys and a number of others' deaths."

Tears gathering in his eyes, Quincy beseeched of her, "_Why_, Eileen, is such a small boy seeing such terrible things?"

"I wish I knew," she answered with honesty, her voice raw with her own pains.

Clearing away the tears from his eye with his thumb, the man said, "I don't know if a thank you is the appropriate response to what you've told me, but..._thank you_. I will help you. I'll take that job at Hogwarts - I'll do _anything _to make sure that doesn't happen to Quirinus. Not to my boy."

Giving a relieved Laugh, Eileen brought her hands to her face and felt the slick wetness of tears on her cheeks. This was going better than she'd hoped. She'd been so _sure _Quincy would call her a liar or a madwoman, maybe even a bitch. Why she'd thought the worst of her good-humored friend, Eileen did not know, but she was thankful her fears had not come to fruition.

"Oh, Quincy, you don't know how much this _means _to me!" she told him.

He gave her a rueful smile. "I'm sure the missus is going to love learning about magic and my change in jobs, I'd always figure I'd tell her when Quirinus got his letter..."

"She doesn't know?" Eileen asked, her heart giving a strange twist. "Hasn't your son shown bouts of accidental magic?"

Quincy shrugged. "Sure he has, when he's really good and mad - which happens almost never - things tend to fall over or doors slam shut. Once in a while, I've seen him magic his veggies away, when he doesn't like them at dinner, and he repaired a crying friend's broken toy once. It's all been quite easy to wave away. Doors slamming shut and open, things falling? The house's just settling or a strong breeze did it if a window's open.

"The veggies, I know Quirinus is doing it on purpose, but he only does it when he thinks we're not watching, so there's never been any questions about how they just vanished. As for the toy, I just explained to the lass it wasn't as broken as she'd thought. What, did you tell your husband about magic when you had Severus?" he questioned.

Eileen, pale and trembling ever so slightly, gave a shake of her head and replied, "When Severus was a baby he made his bottle come to him from across the room right in front of Tobias. I had to tell him about it after that."

"I don't think you ever told me what happened to your husband. Was it an accident? Did he get sick?" Her friend inquired as he slowly calmed down from the earlier admissions.

Casting her gaze to the scene of a Prince woman defending two helpless boys, Eileen felt an inkling of kinship. Maybe, she'd been just as weak of will until her sons were in danger too. Maybe they weren't so different after all. The woman may have been silent a bit too long, because Quincy was touching her wrist and murmuring gently, "Eileen? Have I upset you?"

Shaking her head, she gave her friend a tired smile. "No, no," she answered. "I was just thinking. I-" She sighed. "Tobias isn't dead, or he wasn't when we left, anyway."

Pale eyes intense, Quincy questioned, "You left your husband?"

"Yes I did," Eileen confirmed as she met the man's gaze dead-on. "When Tobias learned of magic, he became absolutely disenchanted with myself and son. He thought I was holding out on him. Believed that we could be so much further along in our lives with the help of my magic. You know - _I _know - this isn't so. But he didn't. He didn't understand and couldn't, no, he _wouldn't _understand. Tobias resented us through and through and because of this, he drank and we fought. I didn't have the strength to retaliate when he-"

Sucking in several breaths to sooth herself, Eileen couldn't meet the now thoroughly sympathetic eyes of her friend.

"Things escalated. One day, some five years ago now, Severus got in between us and refused to bow out. One of them was going to end up dead and I couldn't _believe _it would be Tobias. Oh Quincy, if you could have only seen him! He was just recently stricken with his visions and was in such a state! I think, now, mayhap he'd been looking for an end when he stood tall against Tobias declaring he couldn't hit me. Quincy, _I think my baby wanted to die_!"

And she's wailing. How could she not? She's just realized what's she's done. Her son, he'd _wanted _to leave for the safety of death's realm and she'd _stopped _him! She'd stopped her son from ending his pain and he had not a way to end it all these years since they left Tobias! She'd been making her child lead a life of _suffering _because she'd been too terrified of living without him!

The worst part was, Eileen thought, if he were to try something similar now she'd stop him still. His death would be too much for her to stand and the guilt of not trying to stop it would kill her, even if it were death that Severus wanted.

Quincy was holding her now, rocking her back and forth in a soothing rhythm as he petted her hair back and whispered to her in a soothing litany, "It's okay, it's alright, calm down, everything's okay..."

The two huddle together for a long time and when Eileen's gathered her composure, she gripped at the man's shoulders and told him in a fervent whisper, "He had wanted to die and save himself the suffering, but I stopped him, Quincy. I've made my little boy live in pain all these years because I was too afraid of a world without him!"

His forehead collided with hers with a painful crack and all she could see was the swirling depths of thoughts, emotions and life behind his pupils as she gulped in air. His hand heavy on the back of her neck, Eileen's friend hissed, "Don't _say _things like that Eileen! Maybe he's been wounded by what he's seen since then, but do you think he'd give up one day he's lived past the day you left your husband? _Do you_?"

Eileen didn't know the answer and could only continue gazing on in silence.

His fingers squeezed her neck as he murmured, "He wouldn't Eileen, believe me. There are so many things he's experienced since then besides the pain of what he sees in visions of death, he's felt the love of a grandmother, friend, house-elves, and cat. The joys of learning potions, playing like a little boy is wont to with his whole being thrown into the activity, the joys of having a friend and discovering things all on his own in books and gardens and about himself."

Falling back, Quincy asked, "Do you understand? Maybe he wanted to die in that instance, but I know now he does not. Eileen, if he'd died, he would have none of the things he has now and I _know_ Severus adores everything he has and _will _have. So please, don't blame yourself for stopping him. _Praise _yourself, if anything, you showed him there's so much to live for since you left your husband. You've given him a reason to live back."

"Thank you, Quincy, you're the truest friend I've ever had," Eileen breathed with true awe as she brought him back for a gentle hug. Letting him go several moments later, she touched his pockmarked cheek and asked with wonder, "How did I ever find myself a friend like you?"

He put a mirror hand to her own face and smiled slow and sad. "I loved you, when we were children. I never told you, though, because I could see you weren't meant for me. You, Eileen, I knew you were destined for things beyond loving a boy like me. I was content with what I had, but you always had your eyes on something ahead of you."

"Quincy..." she mumbled, hand falling away.

He retracted his own and turned his gaze to the Persian carpet beneath them. "I love you even now, in a way, but my wife is who I want to spend my life with and the one I cannot imagine living without. I will probably love you forever, but it's not my guiding force to follow your lead anymore. Now it's because my _son, _the only soul I'd give my life for, is threatened by this looming 'Dark Lord'."

Lifting his chin, Eileen gave him a single kiss on the lips. It was gentle; it was kind and full of love. "If you'd told me you loved me years ago, I can't say I would have reciprocated, but now? Quincy, I love you too. You are the greatest friend I will ever have and I know this without a doubt in my heart that I will think of you until the end of my days with fondness. Thank you for caring about me, thank you for what you are about to do and I hope someday, when this madman is dead everyone will know your name and know you as a man who stood up for what was right out of love for those closest to you."

Smiling, Quincy brought the two of them to their feet. Both heady with what had transpired between them, they walked from Eileen's parlor and to the library where Severus was taking his studies with his grandmother.

Going in, Eileen called to the older woman, "Mother, we wish to speak to you for a moment."

Severus sent them an inquisitive stare and then, when he saw the looks on their faces and how close they were standing, he met her stare with a serious look. He would want an explanation later, Eileen realized with a quiet chuckle. She knew that look! It was the one her father used to wear when he knew there was a thing he ought to know about, but realized that now was not the time for explanations. It was funny; she'd never mastered the face herself, yet somehow Severus had come upon it naturally.

A Prince trait, perhaps?

It was a lovely surprise and when her mother approached with a disapproving frown, she was too buoyed by this new tidbit to be annoyed at the accusations lurking in the depths of her eyes.

In the hall, Eileen's mother cast a silencing charm on the library and declared quite toward, "I will not condone you marrying if Mister Quirrell divorces his wife."

"Oh mother, " she tittered. "You read too deeply. We have just come to realize how much our friendship matters to one another in the last hour and a half."

The old woman gave a disbelieving sniff and demanded, "And why's that?"

"We've shared our feelings and Quincy has promised he'll help us in our cause to stop this 'Dark Lord' that wishes to murder Severus and kill Quirinus," Eileen explained.

Quincy gave her hand a short squeeze and let it go. "She's right, Missus Prince. Nothing inappropriate has happened between us; it's as she said, we've just reached a new level in our friendship. And from here on out, I will be a comrade in your cause," he told Eileen's mother.

He held out a hand and for a moment, though it did not appear that her mother would take it.

But, just as the man began to let it fall, Eileen's mother snatched it up and gave it a firm shake. "I am pleased to have you on our side," she said.

"Thank you, Missus Prince. Now, if you ladies do not mind, I must be getting home. I have a great deal of things to discuss with my wife and I need to put in my resignation at the library I work at now."

Nodding, Eileen inquired of her mother, "It has been confirmed, yes? The position is open for Quincy's taking?"

"Yes, Horace sent me the letter just this morning. All Mister Quirrell has to do here is write straight to Albus about the position."

Smiling, the man pressed goodbye kisses to both their cheeks and said, "I can't thank you two enough - for everything."

"Let me show you out," Eileen offered.

And together, the two walked toward the tall doors of Prince manor.

Eileen's mother sighed and put a hand to her heart. "Thank Merlin we have one person who believes us," she murmured to no one in particular.

* * *

**How do you all feel about chapter seven? Good? Bad? I felt like we needed to go a little more in-depth with Quincy Quirrell and his bid in this mission before we wrapped this part up and took another jump through time.**

**As you can all see, this is getting quite a bit longer than intended, but I'm still hoping I can wrap this up in fifteen chapters or less!**

**Thank you to reviewers, The Dark One Rising, Saint Snape, Professor Radar, Esrath, Nightmare Prince, KodeV, and J.F.C.! You guys are great :)**

**Thank you all so much again for reading and please review!**

**EDITED: 7/7/15**


	8. VIII

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Smoothing Severus's hair out of his face, Eileen smiled and turned her attention to Quirinus, who waited beside her son. Inspecting him closely, she noted he was just a mite taller and his face fuller. This, interestingly, seemed to affect how the borrowed robe he wore looked on him.

In comparison to Severus, who looked like the - _his _\- robe was swallowing him; Quincy's son wore it well. It seemed to suit him and he looked very comfortable in the article of clothing. Eileen mused that it was as if he'd been the one living the wizard life for the last five years - not Severus.

Cleaning a smudge from the blonde's face, Eileen wished she'd not suggested the robes. Who cared if they would fit in more among the wizards and witches of Hogwarts at this rate? It didn't flatter her son and when people saw the two together, they would think unfavorably of Severus in comparison to Quirinus. She opened her mouth, about to tell them to take them off, but it was too late.

The sound of footfall from behind catching Eileen's attention, she turned around and found Quincy and her mother in the doorway.

Smiling at them, Eileen approached as the boys hung back. "You're sure you wish to take them? My mother and I don't mind watching Quirinus a few more hours while you meet with Dumbledore and McGonagall," the woman offered.

His unshaven face the only hint to the strife he was facing back home with his wife, Quincy waved it off. "It's fine Eileen, I already promised the lads. It wouldn't do to make myself look like a liar, now would it?"

"Of course not," she murmured in agreement. Eileen felt stung by the last part, she knew her friend was just a bit angry about everything and that he didn't mean to come off so gruffly, but...

Eileen was surprised when her mother's voice rose high to declare, "That will do, Mister Quirrell. You may take the boys, if you are ready."

"Yes Missus Prince," Quincy replied as he gestured for the boys to follow him to the floo. A few moments later, the trio was gone and only Eileen and her mother were left standing in the kitchen.

Coming forward, the old woman put a hand on Eileen's arm. "You _can _tell him you don't like how he's speaking to you, you know," she told her.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Eileen heard herself answer distantly, "I know." But she wasn't really paying attention, no, Eileen was playing back the conversation she'd had with her friend the day before when he dropped Quirrell off for a sleepover with her son.

-v-v-v-v-v-

_"Oh she's mad alright, called me a bloody bastard for keeping such a big secret from her so long," Quincy explained to Eileen as he accepted a cup of tea that was handed to him._

_Clucking her tongue, the woman asked, "She - She's not upset with Quirinus, too, is she?"_

_He shook his head. "No, no, he's her son first and foremost. Magic or Muggle, it doesn't matter to her one bit," her friend said._

_Eileen gave a little sigh of relief. That was something, at least, she thought. "Do you think she'll be mad with you much longer?" the woman questioned._

_"Who's to say? Dotty might already be cooling off - I mean, she _did _make Yorkshire Pudding and Beef Tips for dinner the other night; that's my favorite..."_

_"That is something," the woman agreed._

_He ran a hand over his face and looked away. "I really ought to get home, Dotty will only become more upset if I linger here too long..."_

_Taking the cup handed to her, Eileen nodded in sympathy. "I'll see you tomorrow," she finished._

-v-v-v-v-v-

She wondered if things had not been on the mend as Quincy had hoped. The thought worried Eileen much more than it should have, too. After all, her Quincy would _never _become anything like Tobias had; he'd always been too kind. From her first days with him, the woman had understood this. Quincy had been the first to talk to her in Gobstones Club. The one to encourage her when others were still laughing...

Another idea struck Eileen. Could Dotty be the Tobias in their relationship? She was small, but Quincy was not a big man by any means and the right kick could easily bring him far enough down for her to-

Shaking, Eileen looked to her mother and declared over her chatter about chivalry, "I think I will lie down for a while."

"Are you alright, my dear?" the old woman asked.

Shaking off the concerned touch of her mother's hand, Eileen put on a smile much too wide. "Yes," she lied. "I just feel a bit peaky. It's probably nothing," and before her mother could question her any further, the woman hurried off for her rooms.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Upon stepping through the fireplace, Headmaster Dumbledore got up to greet Quincy and the children. Blue eyes twinkling, he remarked, "I see you brought along your sons."

Putting a hand on Quirinus's shoulder, the man put on a polite smile. "My son and his friend," Quincy corrected. "This one here is Severus, you might remember his mother, Eileen Prince?"

A look passed over the old man's face. "Ah, yes...she was an excellent student. The top of her class until-"

"Yes, well," Quincy cut in. "Severus is shaping up to be a just the same!" There was no need to talk of death with the boys here - even if it was of one years before their time. He felt as if he'd dealt too much with it lately and Severus! Surely he was even sicker of it than Quincy ever could be.

The Headmaster gave a curious quirk of his head, but he let it pass in favor of ushering them all to his desk. "Minerva should be here in just a moment - she was seeing to some trouble between a couple Hufflepuffs and a Slytherin boy.

"It seems the Slytherin boy thought to take an essay done by one of the Hufflepuffs to use as his own and the another Hufflepuff caught him at it. Subsequently, it turned physical and she is informing their respective heads of houses about the punishments that need to be arranged," he imparted with part amusement and part exasperation.

Quincy had a feeling this was a more or less regular occurrence among the students. Cheating had always been around, and even in his days as a student, he'd stooped to it a time or two. Though, once he got Eileen for a tutor in Herbology, he hadn't needed to peek over the shoulder of another student to find the answer to a question on a test anymore.

"Ah," he said in response with a small smile. Looking to the boys who were seated on either side of him, the man took in that Quirinus was busy craning his neck to take in the many sights that Dumbledore's office offered. When he looked to Severus...

The child was white as a corpse; his little fingers clutching the arms of his chair in a death grip. Quincy hesitated, but more frightened by what he saw ghosting across the boy's vision than what the impact of touch could do to his fragile state, the man laid a hand on his head.

"Severus," he started. "Are you feeling ill?"

This brought Dumbledore's attention in as well and he leaned in and murmured fretfully, "He does look ill, doesn't he? Maybe we should take him to the infirmary for Poppy to take a look at..."

Severus, who was doing a remarkable job of paying attention despite what he was going through, made a scared gasping noise and shook his head. "N-No, I'm fine sir...Floo just disagrees with m-me s-sometimes."

Dumbledore didn't look quite convinced and Quincy felt he oughtn't. This was not the work of the Floo, but he also had no right to know unless Eileen or Severus let him in on the child's secret, either.

Big, dark eyes darting, he called, "Quirinus?"

His son got down from his seat and came to take Severus's hand. "Yeah, Severus?" he questioned in a soft voice Quincy's sure he learned from his mother.

"C-Can you talk to me about something? Maybe about those dino-o-o-"

"Dinosaurs," Quirinus broke in, helping his friend along in his request.

Nodding, Severus took a breath and finished his plea, "Can you talk about those? You learn about them in your muggle school, right?"

"We went to a museum, a couple weeks ago, and it had their bones on display. You know, there was this one, he was as big as the ceiling almost; I tried to imagine him with all his muscle and flesh and..."

Helpless as he watched Severus slowly calm down with the help of his son, Quincy turned to Headmaster Dumbledore.

Lips grimly thin, he suggested, "We could move this to Minerva's office, I did just wish to go over the job with you and answer any questions you may have."

"The boys-"

Dumbledore smiled. "They'll be just fine, Fawkes can keep an eye on them for us," he explained pointing to a Phoenix, which watched from a perch just outside of his direct line of vision.

Relenting, Quincy turned to the children and said, "I'll be back soon."

Quirinus answered for both of them. "That's fine, Dad, maybe when you come back we can see Hogwarts from outside?" he inquired with a hopeful look to him, then Dumbledore.

Smiling, the old man agreed, "A look at the castle from outside, I think we can arrange that Mister Quirrell."

"Oh wow! Thanks Headmaster Dumbledore!" Quirinus yelled.

Severus winced and Quincy did too in sympathy. "Is that fine by you, Severus?" he questioned.

He gave one solid nod. "I would enjoy that very much, sir," the dark-eyed boy replied.

"Come, Quincy, let us go talk," the Headmaster said.

Pulled away finally, the man could only cast the boys one last look before they were lost behind the stones of Hogwarts.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Alone with Severus, Quirinus kept yammering until Severus's hand didn't feel so hard and his eyes were on him instead of something beyond him. When his friend was back, the tow-headed boy grinned and clambered up in the chair - forcing Severus to make room for him in the process.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

The dark-haired boy dipped his head.

Kicking his feet, Quirinus was glad Miss Prince hadn't made him change out his trainers for the church shoes Severus was wearing. He didn't like them because they were so black and smooth he was always afraid he'd end up scratching them on something by accident. The two of them were silent for a long while and finally, fed up with it, the blond questioned, "You can still talk, right?"

"Of course!" Severus scoffed.

Smirking, Quirinus snickered at how easy it was to get a rise from the other.

Shoving him, the dark-haired boy complained, "That wasn't very fair!"

"What are you, a Hufflepuff?" Quirinus joked. His daddy had been telling him about the houses since he explained to his mum and him about magic. Hufflepuffs were all about working hard and from the way his dad had been talking about them, Quirinus thought they were the perfect example for the new word he'd been memorizing for his spelling test at school:

_Equality_.

They sounded like the kind who'd fight to make everything the same for everybody.

Severus, who'd known about magic so much longer and kept it _secret _just as long, decried his comment, "No!"

"Then don't be a baby!" Hopping off the chair, Quirinus asked, "Wanna see what kinds of books the Headmaster has? Maybe he has a neat one about potions!"

Last night, Severus had told him all about his favorite hobby and while it sounded kind of boring to him, the blond would do anything to make the haunted look disappear from his best friend's eyes.

The dark-haired boy didn't move right away, but, then, with some timidity he joined Quirinus in looking over the titles of the many books lining the shelves of the Headmaster Dumbledore's office.

When his dad came back with the Headmaster and a lady who introduced herself as both Headmistress and Professor, Quirinus oozed polite charm for both he and Severus. This was because the other boy was too busy trying not to shake as Dumbledore's blue eyes studied him like a bug under a magnifying glass.

A bit of chatter later, the Headmistress showed them through the castle to the grounds outside. Once out there, Quirinus couldn't help but be overtaken by awe at the sight of the castle. It was magnificent! Never had he thought a school could look so beautiful until now...

Severus, who was twitchy and the ghastly pale he'd been at the beginning of their visit, looked close to crying as his dad swept him into his arms. Immediately, Quirinus abandoned mooning over the castle to find out what was wrong.

"What's wrong with Severus, Daddy?" he inquired anxiously.

Smiling sadly, the man just ruffled his wispy locks and said, "He's just not feeling well, lad."

The blond felt there was more to it than that, but he couldn't disagree without anything to go on, so glumly, he proclaimed, "Let's go back to Miss Prince's home!"

The Headmistress frowned and remarked, "If you aren't done looking, you do not have to leave now Mister Quirrell. Your father knows the way back to the Headmaster's office."

Shaking his head, Quirinus told her, "No, I'm done."

Neither adult seemed to believe him, but he didn't care. Severus wasn't feeling well and he didn't want him to have to be out in the cold if that was the case.

Sooner than he would have liked, they were stepping back through the hearth in the Prince manor kitchen where Severus's granny was waiting.

At the sight of her grandson, she asked, "What happened?"

Quirinus's father shook his head. "I think it was one of his-" he cast a look to Quirinus who stood mute beside him. "_Migraines_."

Clucking her tongue, Severus's granny had Dad put his mate down in a chair and as they bustled about finding tea and pain potions, Quirinus went to his friend and took his hand.

"You can tell me," he whispered. "I'll keep a secret."

Severus's eyes opened to reveal scared, fathomless darkness. "Even one like mine?" he squeaked.

Thinking it over, Quirinus nodded. After all, Severus was his very best mate and the best kinds of mates were supposed to know _everything _about one another. Good and bad. "I will," he swore.

Licking his lips, Severus began his tale.

* * *

**And this concludes age eight/nine!**

**How do you feel about the ending? What about the switch away from Eileen's side of things for a bit? I thought it was crucial we got a different perspective - especially for the last scene.**

**Thanks to reviewers, Biancaruth, The Dark One Rising, Dixie.f.9. Sarah AB, KodeV, Nymphxdora, and NightmarePrince; you guys are the best :)**

**Before I finish off, I figure you might like to know about some other neat stories that are out there that you can read between this update and the next:**

**_Goldstien _****by Laazov: "What's a nice Jewish boy like Anthony doing at Hogwarts? Well, for starters, his name isn't really Anthony. Winner of the Fanfiction Booker's Prize 2014."**

**-This one is a nice study of the integration of a student from a highly religious to Hogwarts.**

**_The Escapades of Teddy Lupin _****by Nymphxdora: "Teddy Lupin is about to start his first year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little does he know that the next seven years are going to be a roller-coaster of emotions, experiences and events that will challenge everything he has ever known and believed in."**

**-The best Next-Gen Teddy Lupin multi-chap I've ever read. Great OCs and use of canon-characters**

**_The Lion-Taming of the Shrew _****by Nightfall Rising: "Sirius babysits and Severus bakes cookies. Neither of these things is strictly true."**

**-This piece is actually part of an extended series, but you don't need to read it all to read this story. It's very intriguing how Nightfall Rising has Sirius and Severus interact with one another given the situation they are in.**

**Thanks for reading and please _review_!**

**EDITED: 7/9/15**


	9. IX

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Pouring drinks for herself and her mother's guests, Eileen put them on a tray and was about to pick it up when she shook her head and drew her wand instead. A quick swish of it later, the tray and tea were levitating and she was able to walk to the dining room with ease. Sometimes, Eileen mused, even after years back in the wizarding world she still found herself about to do things the muggle way.

It spoke to how deeply her time their affected her, how much she actually _liked _the muggle world. Despite everything, Eileen missed the life she'd had there. How she had to walk, work, cook and clean. It'd taken so much time out of her day...Yet, it was also because of this she was never left with enough extra time to become paralyzed with fear as her mind travelled the avenues concerning Severus and what then, seemed to be just a terrible reoccurring nightmare.

Of course, she'd never regret her decision to come home either. It had given her son something she never could on her own. Here, in the Prince family manor, he had a haven. Here, he was safe. No one would doubt the things Severus saw or said, her mother and she did not ever tell him he was wrong or bad or evil. No place was better for her son than here and Eileen _knew _this to the very deepest thread of her being. But...sometimes, freedom called to her. She wanted that hard won life she'd had in the muggle world. A life built all on her own merits.

Once or twice, she'd brought up the idea of educating herself further so she may find a job among her people, but Eileen's mother was vehemently against it. She thought it was improper for her to work when she had a son that needed raising. They fought about this and as Severus's education at Hogwarts drew ever closer, Eileen felt the need to work all the more. She needed something to keep her busy now that her son was beginning to need her less than he ever had before.

For now, though, Eileen would let it be. Severus's eleventh birthday was a month out and it was better she begin to educate him on the finer points of Hogwarts subjects than to look for work. He needed every bit of help he could get, Eileen felt. His visions and introverted demeanor would be more than enough to slow his social progress at school down.

Stepping into the dining room with a polite smile to the gathered, she set the tea down on the table and apologized, "Sorry for the delay, it seems the house-elves moved the tea on me and it took me a moment to find it."

"Why not just have the elves take care of it all together?" Clodagh Selwyn inquired with a prim crinkle of her petite nose.

Eying her mother's guest, Eileen tried not to show her distaste for the response as she answered, "I find it's more pleasant when I do things _myself_."

"Hm," the woman murmured with little else to say.

Eileen, bothered by the silence as they sipped their tea, turned her attention to the young girl next to the woman. "So, Katrina, how old are you?"

The child, the spitting image of her father, who was busy drawing up the paper work with her mother to change Severus's name, met Eileen's gaze and answered flatly, "I am nine, ma'am."

Nodding at this, she offered, "My son's only a couple years older than you. If I had known your father planned to bring you and your mother, I would have had Severus stay home for the afternoon."

Clodagh gave a cold smile and remarked, "If I had known you would be here, I would not have insisted my daughter and I accompany Thomas on his business call. After all, what good is it to expose my daughter to traitor like you? Having her meet with a fine lady like Misses Prince is one thing, but _you_, Eileen, are another!"

Gripping her teacup with enough strength to crack the cup, Eileen replied, "I'm sorry to hear you feel that way."

That seemed to shock the woman and she held back a chuckle when Katrina sneaked a look at her mother, obviously using her as a template for her own reaction to Eileen. Sometimes, Eileen had to admit, it paid not to be petty.

"Mum!" came a call from the kitchen. Standing up, she planned to stop her son before he could be exposed to the likes of Clodagh, but Severus came into the room much too quick. His young face was bright with news and in his hand he held a football.

Speedily walking to her son, she put a hand on his shoulder and commented, "You're home early."

Eyes on the woman and girl, Severus told her, "Misses Quirrell went into labor. Quirinus wanted to go with his parents because he wants to be there for his baby sister or brother, so we had to cancel my football lessons."

"I see," Eileen replied with a smile. "I'll have to write Quincy later."

Putting his ball down, Severus wiped his hands on his pants and stared at the mother and daughter for a long breath. Then, his brows drew together before taking on an astonished curve. Eileen wondered why this was and she was going to pull her son aside when he approached the table. "Hello," Severus said to the girl.

"Good afternoon," the child echoed.

Watching them, she realized what it was her son was experiencing and felt wonder overtake her. Severus very rarely could greet anyone without a vision, but somehow, he was still her bright boy as he took the seat across from Katrina and reached for a teacup of his own.

Hesitant, Eileen called, "Severus...are you alright?"

"I'm fine Mum!" he answered with the largest smile she'd seen on his face in quite a while.

Still looking at Katrina, her son asked, "When you're done with your tea, would you like to come down to my grandpa's potion's lab? I'm making a Blood Replenisher, it's probably about done simmering."

"Um..." the girl mumbled as she ducked behind a curtain of her hair.

Clodagh ended up answering for her daughter, "Yes, Katrina would like that very much."

Severus smiled at her and hurriedly gulped down his own cup of tea and waited with true excitement for the girl to finish. And reluctantly, she did. Once she finished, Severus was up and leading her toward the cellar.

Eying the woman who'd called her a traitor not much earlier, Eileen questioned, and "It's alright that your daughter plays with a half-blood, but it's a true pain to visit a 'traitor' like me?"

Lips curving down, Clodagh sneered, "It's not that poor boy's fault his mother laid down with an ape."

Eileen laughed. This woman could insult her all she liked - it didn't matter to her. As long as Clodagh didn't say anything about Severus, she could care less what someone like her thought.

And for the rest of the visit with Clodagh, Eileen kept up a happy chatter even as the woman attempted to twist it into something else. Who cared if she disapproved of Eileen's life choices? Most people did. No, what mattered now was that her son finally had met a child who did not plague him with visions of death and the "Dark Lord".

-v-v-v-v-v-

When the Selwyns were long gone and their family gathered for dinner at the dining table, Eileen passed her son a cup of pumpkin juice and said, "So, Severus, did you like Katrina?"

Eagerly accepting the cup, her son gave a dazzling smile. "I did! She knew a little bit about potions, so it was fun talking with her about my Blood Replenisher. I think she was impressed that I got to make it all on my own," he told Eileen.

Her own lips curved in pleasure, the woman asked, "And you never saw anything about her and the Dark Lord?"

"What now?" Eileen's mother demanded with interest.

Ignoring her inquiry, Severus bobbed his head and replied, "Not even an incy vision!" Cocking his head to the side then, he remarked in his ever-thoughtful tone, "Though, it was strange. I kept expecting to see_ something_ \- even if it was going to just be a flash of green or screaming. But, there was nothing and I kept wondering, 'How does she die then? Does she ever die?'. It was strange, but I liked it."

It hurt Eileen a lot more than it probably should have to hear her son talk as he did. He _expected _to see death, torture and pain when in the company of others and when he didn't, all Severus could wonder about the person before him was what would happen to them. Someday, Eileen hoped he'd find it normal not to see people dying instead of strange.

To do that, though, they had to stop the Dark Lord before he could ever get to the point where he partook in killing of innocents.

Eileen's mother, who'd been fuming silently for several minutes, demanded of them both, "Who did Severus meet that did not cause him visions?"

"The Selwyn's daughter, Katrina," Eileen answered calmly.

Nodding, the old woman's eyes took on a keen glint as she remarked, "Mayhap we should invite them for tea, hm? It would be a nice way to thank Mister Selwyn for helping fill out the paper work for Severus's name change."

"My what?" the boy asked with his mouth half-full with food.

Crinkling her nose, Eileen reached across the table and tapped his mouth close, "Manners, my love," she told him.

Swallowing, Severus asked again, "Why are we changing my name? Why didn't you tell me first?"

"It's not a major change," the boy's grandmother commented. "But your mother and I felt it would be best if we changed your last name. Instead of just Severus Snape, you are now Severus Snape-Prince. It will help you in the future, you see, names mean a lot in this world."

"Oh, I know." Her son scowled, good mood leaving him. "I just wish you'd have let me know _before _you did it! I mean, I know I'm only ten, but I think I know enough thanks to Mum to have at least been informed earlier!"

Dropping his fork and knife, Eileen's son crossed his arms and murmured, "I might expect Granny to do something like this, but Mum how come _you _didn't tell me?"

Feeling terrible, the woman reached put down her own utensils and whispered, "I'm sorry. I just didn't-"

"Eileen," her mother broke in. "He's a _child, _you do not have to give him an explanation for doing what is best! And as a good son, young man, you have no right to make your mother feel inadequate!"

Severus stood up and sneered so cruelly that Eileen was reminded of Tobias.

Voice dark and smooth, he hissed, "_My apologies, _Grandmother. How silly of me to think that I, who is directly affected by this, should get a say!" And thoroughly disgusted, her son threw down his napkin and stocked away.

"Severus!" Eileen cried, fully intending to get up and chase after her only child.

Face steely, the woman's mother ordered, "Sit _down_, Eileen. Merlin, child, he's just throwing a fit. In a little while he'll see reason and calm down."

She hesitated, but, eventually, Eileen did sit down, though, she did not touch her dinner again.

-v-v-v-v-v-

A few hours later, Eileen let herself into her son's room and took a seat on his bed. Taking in the space, she smiled at how very _child-like _it felt despite her son's odd life. Toys were strewn across available surfaces, a number of books were open on his desk and several more were piled up with parchment stuffed between their pages. On his windows, he'd stuck stickers he'd gotten on trips to Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley to the glass and she laughed as several little dragons blew fire in-sync.

Shifting on his bed, she looked for a comb in his bedside drawer. Drawing out an ornate silver brush, Eileen wondered if this was something her mother had given Severus, because she did not recognize it and it was far too fancy for her to have picked for her son. Tobias had taught her quite quickly muggle boys didn't need flouncy, pretty things; the basics would do - unless, of course, they were homosexuals (she sensed there was flawed logic there, but seeing as she knew little of them herself, who had she been to disagree?).

It was amusing to her how different the muggle men and wizard men were, where one thought less was more, the other felt more was actually more.

Closing her son's nightstand's drawer, her eyes fell on the picture he kept on top of it. It was of Severus and Quirinus. The two were holding ice cream cones and laughing as Dotty stood behind them with a strained smile of her own.

This was from sometime early last year, Eileen noted. This was before Quincy was out of the doghouse, before Dotty had become pregnant. But this photo was also after Severus told Quirinus about his seeings. She could see it in how attentively the blonde's eyes watched her son even as they laughed.

It was sweet, she thought, how Quincy's boy had stepped up as her Severus's advocate. How he put himself between her son and the world. It also made her fear that her boy would always be in the background, always mimicking Quirinus like a shadow in how he presented himself to the world because he would be too scared to himself in fear of letting his secret be revealed to those who would not understand.

Caressing the picture, she jumped when she heard her son call, "Mum?"

"Severus!" She sighed in relief as she smiled at the boy. His hair was wet and he wore a bathrobe and slippers. Sitting up straighter, she held up the brush and said, "I thought I'd check up on you."

Coming over, her son settled close enough that Eileen could easily reach his head and begin to work the tangles out of his hair. They were quiet for a long time, but finally, Eileen whispered, "I _am _sorry, you know. I just didn't want you to worry about it, I suppose. The name change is really only for legal purposes, my love, it will making it easier to write you into your grandmother's will and it will make it harder to be disputed when the time comes for inheritances to be divided as you are a now both a Prince in name and blood."

"I'm not mad, not really." Her son sighed. "I just sort of feel empty knowing you and Granny thought to keep this from when I've never keep anything from you."

Pulling the brush through his hair, Eileen put it aside and hugged her son. "Oh, my lovely boy..." Turning him, she smiled a secret grin and remarked, "How about you and I make a pact, Severus? I will never keep anything important from you again and you must never keep anything important from me either."

"I like that idea," Severus praised with a smile of his own. "Shake on it?" he questioned.

Eileen took his hand and swore, "Never will I keep a big secret from you again."

"And I will never hide anything important from you, either," her son finished.

With one last smile, the woman picked up Severus's brush and asked, "Would it be alright if I pulled your hair back?"

* * *

**How do we feel about this chapter? Are you interested in Katrina Selwyn? Would you like to see more of her?**

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**EDITED: 7/15/15**


	10. X

_**Mettle**_

* * *

Putting Severus's gifts in a pile at one end of the dining table, Eileen let out a quiet, breathy laugh when she heard the running feet of children outside the room. When Katrina had arrived, Eileen had used the distraction to send her son and Quirinus off so she could finish decorating the room for her son in peace. Plus, it was going to be a lovely surprise for her boy when he stepped in to find the windows framed with silver streamers, balloons of all colors attached to the chairs and a big cake with eleven sparklers in the middle of the table waiting for him.

Chuckling louder than she, Quincy remarked, "It sounds like the children are having a ball!"

"Indeed," Eileen agreed with a smile toward the man and his wife who were busy fawning over their newest child - a girl, Denise. It was a downright ordinary name compared to Quirinus, but maybe it indicated her mother's silent hope. A Muggle child.

The woman and her friend had talked about many things as he slowly worked things out with his wife over the past couple years. Dotty had not only been devastated by Quincy keeping the secret, but also by the fact it was this very secret that would lead to her son being spirited off to a world she'd never be welcome or wanted in.

It had taken several months for Dotty to admit that to Quincy and Eileen knew that she'd been told everything in strictest confidence, so she could _not _reach out and attempt to comfort the woman - no matter how much she wanted to. Sometimes, Eileen wondered, if Tobias had thought along a similar thread. Had he only been hurt? Or was it as it seemed to her then?

Time had made her forgiving toward her husband, she noted with some dissatisfaction. He'd hurt her, he'd hurt _their _son! But, despite it all, she could not find a single ember of fury inside herself. Eileen had never blamed Tobias for how he'd felt, because, even now, she felt the fault lay with her.

Tobias had been a good man and surely he would have continued to be so if Severus had not showed his magic so early...She wondered if things would have been different if she'd had the courage to use a memory charm on him. At the very least, it would have given them a few more years of happiness as a family.

It would have been false happiness in the end, yes, but Severus would never have had to know. He could have had a father like she had growing up, one that wanted to give him everything he possessed and then some more...

Shaking her head, Eileen finished with the presents and stood up to see her mother staring at her.

"What is it?" she asked the woman.

Her wrinkle-lined eyes sympathetic, she told her daughter, "You could have that too, my dear, if you let me help you find a _good _man-"

"I'm fine, thank you," Eileen cut in crisply. She was not interested in dating or marrying or merlin forbid - _more _children. Tobias had been enough. Severus was enough.

Her mother blinked, look souring instantly. Sighing at the sight, Eileen wiped her hands off and turned to Quincy and Dotty, "Think it's time we call in the children?" she inquired.

Bouncing her daughter, dressed from head to toe in a lovely rose-shade of pink, nodded. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Eileen," she replied.

Smiling at the other woman, Eileen stepped out into the corridor and called to the children, "Severus! Quirinus! Katrina! It's time for cake and presents!"

The trio were so quick to heed her call it was as if they'd apparated.

Giving a laugh, she caught her son and brought him close for a quick kiss before ushering the three of them in.

Severus clambered for the chair by the cake and the other two for the ones across as the adults came to stand close and the house-elves peeked in from the other room (Quincy hadn't explained everything about their world yet to Dotty and Eileen was not sure how the woman would react to their presences and so, had asked them to watch from the kitchen).

Clapping his hands, Quirinus said, "Make a wish, Severus!"

Sparklers putting stars in his galaxy-black eyes, her son gave a smile before blowing with all his elven year old might. Several moments later, the sparklers were out and everyone began to cheer.

"Happy birthday, Severus!" Quincy offered warmly as Severus's mates chorused:

"Presents! Open your presents!"

The adults chuckling at the young ones' enthusiasm, they waited with quiet expectancy for Eileen's son to choose his course of action. Tapping a thumb on his lower lip, the boy sent Katrina and Quirinus a sly smile before teasing, "Oh, I don't know guys...cake might be in order first."

"But Severus," Katrina rebuked, "Mysteries are meant to be _solved_."

Leaning in close, Quincy whispered to Eileen, "I think that one's going to be a Ravenclaw."

Smiling back at her best friend, the woman agreed, "It's a good thing her older brother is already in Slytherin, I can't imagine her parents would be pleased otherwise."

"Too true, my dear," he chuckled with a heavy undertone.

It was sad, Eileen mused, how much house pride carried on past Hogwarts.

Smirking at her, Severus argued back, "Ah, but part of the fun of a mystery is to be left to wonder for a little while first!"

The younger girl crossed her arms and pushed her lip out in an exaggerated pout. Quirinus who'd been letting the two debate between themselves, offered his thoughts in a last ditch effort to persuade Eileen's son, "The cake will be there long after we go home, but if you don't open them now, who's to say we'll get to them before it's time for us to go home?"

And the tow-headed boy sent a furtive glance to his parents and baby sister who was making tiny squeaky noises that Eileen recalled Severus making when he was hungry as a baby.

"That," Severus smiled, "Is an excellent point. Presents it is!"

The girl made an annoyed noise as Quirinus laughed along with Severus. Eileen was reminded once again, that Severus and Quirinus were still very much a pair despite Katrina's introduction to their friendship. She hoped, with time, that this would change and they'd be a strong trio that would shield her son from the terrors that the world inflicted him with.

Katrina didn't know about the visions - not like Quirinus, but she was sure that this wouldn't last. Despite their teasing of the younger girl, it was quite obvious to her that they liked one another. Severus appreciated her interest in his intellectual endeavors and the thoughtful questions she posed, Quirinus had said a great many times he thought she was funny and liked how good at Gobstones she was. Katrina, herself, admired Severus's intelligence and liked how Quincy's boy found her self-deprecating behavior to be funny.

Eileen had to admit, for being Clodagh's and Thomas's daughter, she had a very self-effacing sort of way about her. She didn't mind throwing her own flaws out in the open or about making herself look silly - or at least she didn't when not in her parent's company. When with her mother or father, Katrina became nearly mute and watched her parents with a hawk-like intensity. Eileen felt it was unfortunate how much of the girl was lost in their company; she hated how the girl became little more than an extension of her parents' will.

Someday, Eileen hoped, she could convince the girl things didn't need to be as such. Maybe, with time, Katrina could come to the Prince Manor and find sanctuary among her and her family's company.

Her father had never tried to make her an extension of himself and had always praised her for her original thoughts and opinions - the same as Eileen tried to do with Severus and it seemed Eileen would have to do the same for Katrina if her parents refused to.

Picking up a parcel wrapped in blue, Severus detached the card taped to it and read,

"Happy Eleventh Birthday, Severus, may you have many more. Love, The Quirrells."

Looking to the quartet, her boy nodded, "Thank you all."

With that finished, he wasted no time in ripping away the paper to reveal a book. "_The Martian Chronicles_," Severus read aloud.

"I read it and lent it many times while working as a librarian in the Muggle world," Quincy explained, "It's an excellent collection of stories and Quirinus thought you would like it too."

Skimming the first page of the book, Severus agreed, "Oh, I have no doubts..." It seemed he'd forget all his other presents too as he turned to the next page, but Katrina didn't let him get away with it for long.

"No! No reading when you still have presents left!" the girl exclaimed as she put one hand on her hip and reached across the table to pluck the paperback from Severus's fingers.

Frowning, Severus proclaimed, "Fine, but I'm opening your present last!"

"Do what you like, I'm already last for everything else," Katrina sassed as Severus picked up his grandmother's gift to him.

Poking the ornate little box adorned with a single green ribbon, Severus undid it and opened the cube. A moment later, he lifted out a silver chain with-

Eileen gasped and looked to her mother. "_Father's _ring?"

"He might as well have it now," the older woman replied. "I realize the ring will be bit large for him for a few years - hence the chain."

Looking at the family heirloom with entrapped attention, Severus said nothing for several minutes and then, with a slow frown, he turned to Eileen and demanded, "Help me put it on."

Eileen wondered about the serious look on her son's face, but she complied and a moment later, Severus admired it against the gray of his button-up. "The next present, Severus," Eileen whispered to her son.

giving a single dip of his head, Severus grabbed her present. Working away the silver and red paper, he admired the green dress robes she'd given him. "These look handsome mum, are we going some place nice?" he questioned.

"We will be, actually," Eileen admitted. "But, we can talk about that later," she told Severus. Her mother had finally convinced her that having dinner with another pureblood family wouldn't be so bad and so, next weekend, they'd be going to the Selwyn's for the most proper meal she'd had since Eileen was a school girl.

Nodding, Severus folded it back up and picked up Katrina's gift. She'd decorated it with stickers of little wizards that were casting multi-colored spells and Eileen sighed as her son decimated it to shreds in favor of knowing what lay inside.

"I thought you might like a nice journal - especially since you're always talking about inventing your own potions and spells. I thought it'd be nicer if you could write it out in a book of its' own over the margins of your schoolbooks," she imparted to him with an anxious tinge to her voice.

Petting the soft leather, Severus looked at Katrina and gifted her with a truly dazzling smile. "This will be absolutely perfect, Katrina," he told her.

The girl's face glowed with pride.

"Oh! That reminds me, here you are, Severus. It came this morning, but I thought you might like showing it off while everyone was here," Eileen told her son as she reached into her pocket to give him his Hogwarts's letter.

Snatching it from her hand, Severus opened and read it and laughed. "I've been accepted - not like there was any doubt about that!"

But even so, everyone applauded. It was a great accomplishment to be accepted to Hogwarts - no matter how expected.

"I believe now would be the time to start cutting the cake," Eileen's mother remarked as the applause died away.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Dotty, busy with Denise upstairs, and Severus with Quirinus out front playing with a football, Eileen took a sip of her tea before asking Quincy, "Anything to report?"

Drumming his fingers, the man gave a jerky shrug. "Unfortunately, as the things Severus sees are not yet history, there are no records for me to review and because the lad only sees death, the best I've been able to do is study the student population and attempt to guess which youths are the ones that Severus see in his visions. Unluckily, boys and grown men share few similarities.

"Though...there is something interesting that I've heard some seventh years whispering about. They talk about something called "the mark" and if they plan to take it right out of school or if they are to abstain because of their future endeavors. It's mostly been whispered about among the Slytherins, but I distinctly recall a young lady getting cut down to size by her Ravenclaw boyfriend for wanting to take it. And then there was the list of pros and cons a Gryffindor boy left behind by accident," he rambled off.

Sitting up straighter, Eileen demanded, "Do you still have the list?"

"Who do you think I am, Eileen?" Quincy scoffed with a impish twinkle to his eye. Reaching into his shirt breast-pocket, he slipped a folded piece of parchment across to her. "There it is, study it when you get home."

Putting it in her muggle purse, the woman agreed, "I will." Bitting at her lip then, she asked, "Do you feel that this mark business and the Dark Lord of Severus's visions are linked?"

"I'm hoping not, but somehow I don't think we'll be that lucky," her best mate admitted with a weary sigh. "Eileen, those kids, some of them call me a _traitor _when they don't think I'm listening. The pureblood fanaticism was intolerable when we were going to school, but these days, it's down right _unbearable_. I don't know how are boys are going to make it through with their blood," he confided in Eileen.

Squaring her jaw, she declared, "We'll give them our support, love and promise them that there is more beyond Hogwarts. We reassure them always and we never stop even when they don't believe us. And do you know why, Quincy? Because we are _proof _that those beliefs can be left behind. We made our lives in the muggle world, we found our happinesses and learned there is much more here than what the fanatics would lead you to believe."

"You really are something," the man grinned. "Sometimes..."

Touching his hand, Eileen reminded him, "Your wife and daughter are upstairs, your son is playing with mine just outside and my mother would finally disown me if we dared."

He gave a wistful sort of sigh and commented, "If I'd had the nerves before we left school."

"If you'd have had them then, I'm verily sure I would have run all the faster to the muggle world," Eileen returned.

This brought out a low laugh and Quincy gave her hand a short squeeze. "You are the wittiest woman I know," he told her.

"It's a shame you never met my grandmother, my father said she was hysterical - and if I'd been old enough to appreciate her humor before she died, I'm sure I'd have agreed," the woman replied.

Quincy just smiled at her with knowing eyes and turned his attention to the staircase behind them when it began to creak with the weight of his wife.

And despite not wanting a man, Eileen wished someone's gaze would go to her as Quincy's went to his wife.

* * *

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	11. XI

_**Mettle**_

* * *

"_MUUUUUM!_" Severus screamed.

Eileen was up instantly. She wasted no time on finding a robe to cover herself or to find slippers to keep her feet warm as she ran from her bedroom to her son's. Coming into his bedroom, she looked to his bed and was terrified when she didn't see the boy there.

"Severus?" Eileen called.

A scrabbling noise came from the bathroom adjacent to his bedroom and the woman sprinted toward it. Pushing in the heavy door, she squinted into the darkness and just barely made out the shape of her son over the sink. Motioning the lights on with a silent spell on her lips, Eileen gasped at what she found.

Her son's hand was bloody and glass stuck out with jagged edges from his palm. Approaching with faltering steps, Eileen wrapped her own hand loosely around the injured one of her child's and pushed it under the faucet.

Turning on the water, she gave a wince of sympathy when he made a low, pained hissing noise. Opening the cabinet beside the sink, she rooted around for a pair of tweezers and when she found some, Eileen took Severus's hand out from beneath the flow of the water and told him, "This will probably hurt."

Severus suppressed a whimper as she pulled out bits of glass and blotted the wounds with a towel. When she was done, she brought down the first aid kit and bandaged up her son's hand. With that done, Eileen ordered, "Take a seat on the tub."

The boy sat down with no protest and allowed the woman to touch him all over and push his face this way and that way as she expected him closely. "Now, how did you end up with glass in your hand?" she inquired.

"I probably grabbed my glass of water when I was dreaming and squeezed it too hard," Severus replied with a tired shrug, "I really don't know."

It was as plausible an explanation as any and so, Eileen accepted it with a nod and took a seat beside her son and enveloped him in a one-armed hug. "Do you want to talk about it, love?"

Her son started to shake his head, but then he stopped and remarked, "I've seen myself die over and over, but every time, every _bloody _time he - _me _\- doesn't want to die. He's prepared for it, accepted it and understands it must be, but he doesn't _want _to. Mum, I think everybody who says they're okay with dying is a _liar_."

Kissing her son's head, Eileen whispered a promise to her only child, "Then isn't he lucky I have no plans to let him and you die like that?"

"Mum, I don't think you get to stop something just because you don't like it," Severus sighed wearily.

Clutching the boy, the woman said nothing for a long time and soon enough, her son nodded off into exhausted sleep. When she was sure he was asleep, she brought Severus onto her lap and Eileen muttered, "I _can _stop it. I _will _stop it. For you, my love, for Qurinius and all the others who don't deserve to die."

-v-v-v-v-v-

_"What do you think of the list?"_

_Still studying the scrap of paper, Eileen read for what must have been the eighty-eighth time,_

**_Pros:_**

**_Dad'll be happy._**

**_It will help me get the job I want in the Ministry quicker._**

**_Linus is already a part of the group._**

**_I'll help clean up the Muggle scum that doesn't like how we do things in our world._**

**_Cons:_**

**_It'll hurt._**

**_I don't like the look of him._**

**_If someone sees the mark, things could go badly._**

**_I will have to kill people, not just scare them back to their stupid world. _**

_Turning the sheet over, Eileen handed it to her mother and said, "It's fifty fifty with this boy."_

_The look her mother wore was unamused. "No, Eileen, what do you think about its connection?" she demanded._

_"I don't know for sure there _is _one..."_

_Taking it, the older woman commented, "We could let Severus see it. I know he only watches people die, but maybe he'll recognize something this boy writes about."_

_Snatching it back angrily, Eileen refused, "No! I will not let my son see that the man who might kill him is already leading children astray!"_

_"You won't be able to keep it from him no matter how hard you try, Eileen. In a year he'll be at Hogwarts and just as entrenched in things as this young man here is!" her mother argued fiercely._

_Eileen knew she was being ridiculous, trying to hide the truth from her son when she'd promised the opposite; but, could she really be blamed? What this boy had written was terribly frightening and all she could imagine was someday Severus might do the same..._

-v-v-v-v-v-

Eileen gasped her way into wakefulness and there was a thump by her feet as Severus slid to the ground.

"Mum?" Severus mumbled.

Standing up, the woman winced at the tingling that began in her legs as she was made to sit back down. Obviously they'd spent at least a couple hours sleeping in the bathrom.

The boy touched her knee. "You okay?" he asked.

"Just some pins and needles," Eileen explained wanly as she started to rub her hands up and down her limbs.

Sitting on the floor, Severus stared at her as she ran her hands up and down her legs. After a while, the boy got up and went to the sink and unwrapped his bandages.

"Do you think I'll need to see a healer? A couple of these look a bit deep," he commented.

Eileen wished she could have joined him at the sink, but her legs were still too sharp for her to stand on. "Maybe," she admitted. "But, we'll let your grandmother decide. She's the one who trained as a healer."

"She did?" her son questioned with true interest.

Nodding, Eileen informed the child, "That she did. It was her way of biding time between school and marrying your grandfather. They'd been engaged before he left Hogwarts, but he wanted to do a roundabout the world before he settled down and that took a few years, so grandmother decided to further her studies."

"That's kind of wicked," Severus smiled at her.

Eileen smirked back. "You might have to ask her about it some, then," she commented.

Severus nodded and re-bandaged his hand before inquiring, "Do you need help, mum?"

"No, I'm just fine, you can go."

And go, Severus did.

Sighing, Eileen pushed herself up and took the first few painful steps and relaxed as the pain ebbed away to nothing on her way back to her rooms.

-v-v-v-v-v-

"Are you ready for dinner at the Selwyn's, Severus?" Eileen asked as she finished putting on the emerald choker her mother had given her to wear tonight.

Pulling at his bow-tie, the child gave a shrug. "Is the tie really necessary?" he asked.

Smiling at his reflection in her full-length mirror, the woman laughed, "Yes, my love, it is."

"Okay," he sighed as he flopped back onto her bed.

Rolling her eyes with good humor, she told him, "Sit up now, you wouldn't want to cause any wrinkles."

He did so and made a face at her - which, Eileen echoed with one of her own.

Severus broke into a peal of laughter and she wondered, how could he be such a little boy and so old at the same time?

-v-v-v-v-v-

The moment Severus laid his dark eyes on Thomas Selwyn, Eileen saw things were already too far out of her control. Tears gathering in his eyes, Severus did not step away or start to shout or even _whimper_. Instead, the skinny lad moved to Katrina and took up her smaller hand in his and with a voice so full of aching and regret, he whispered, "I'm so, _so sorry_."

To say the least, the girl was frightened and the couple were less than pleased with her son's odd behavior. Eileen didn't know what she could say to fix this, but as always, her mother seemed to know just what to do.

"Severus, young man, knock off your antics this instance!" she snapped as she pulled him away from Katrina. "I told you to save your presentation for after dinner."

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Eileen's son gave his mother a look that only hinted at the true confusion he must have felt at her behavior as he gave a mute nod of his head.

Apologetic, the old woman pulled her rouged colored lips into a frown and told the Selwyn's, "He's been very eager to show off the scene of Shakespeare he learned for his lessons this week."

"Shakespeare, you say?" Clodagh replied with some doubt, "I don't think I'm very familiar with his work other than _Romeo and Juliet_."

Taking a slow, quiet breath, Eileen felt her heart return to a steady rhythm. Thank merlin for small favors, she thought as she put a delicate hand to her chest. If Eileen hadn't been more concerned with soothing her battered heart, she may have note how Thomas's wife's eyes snapped to her as Eileen's mother began to thank Thomas once again for helping them change Severus's name.

Dinner was a dull affair. Seated around a table smaller than the one they had in the Prince manor in a vaulted room, Eileen spoke little as her mother chattered on about gossip she'd heard from her visits with other well-to-do families with Clodagh and Thomas.

Katrina kept glancing at Severus. Severus kept his eyes on his plate and ate little.

It hurt Eileen and she wanted to reach out and touch him. She wanted to see the child who'd made faces at her in her bedroom jus an hour before again. She wanted her little boy back.

The worst part, the woman mused, was that things would continue on this path as he grew older and older and thought himself too big and grown for his mother's gentle ministrations.

-v-v-v-v-v-

Dinner several hours past, they've retired to a parlor and Katrina's dozed off on a sofa with Severus sleeping fitfully beside her.

Swirling a glass of Chardonnay, Eileen's mother argued, "No, no, I'm _certain _he said that we are all fools! No matter how we feel about ourselves!"

"That's just asinine, here-" Getting up, Thomas asked Eileen's mother, "Would you accompany me to my study, Misses Prince? I think we'll find the very book we are speaking of there."

"Of course, my good sir," the aged woman agreed as she took his offered hand and together, the two stepped out into the hall.

Clodagh who'd been silently stitching something across the room, turned her eyes on Eileen and said, "You're son was not acting out a scene of Shakespeare."

"Yes, he was," Eileen firmly disagreed. "He's very fond of his works - especially _King Leer,_" she insisted as her hands dug into the fabric of her skirt.

Bright eyes sharp as arrows, Clodagh shook her head and proclaimed, "You are not a skilled liar, Prince. You're mother mayhap have convinced my husband - and myself too, if I had not looked to you behind her and saw the fear in your eyes."

"No..." the woman uttered.

Standing up, the other woman came to tower over Eileen as she demanded much more forcefully, "Tell me or your son will never lay his dirty eyes upon my daughter again."

Eileen did not like being threatened, she _hated _that her son had been brought into their fight and she would have begun to claw Clodagh's eyes out if it were not for the pair of children sleeping just a couch away.

So, meeting bright eyes, she spat, "My son saw your husband's death. He saw it and he was so moved by it he felt he should apologize to your daughter because it was likely unpleasant."

"You-" blinking, Eileen could see there were tears in Clodagh's eyes as she warbled, "You _lie._"

Smirking Eileen rose to her feet and met the woman's gaze equally. "Was it not just you who declared I have no talent for such a thing?" she inquired spitefully.

"No!" she shouted and the bully of a woman's legs buckled beneath her.

Watching as she wept on the rug of her husband's home, Eileen looked back to the children and saw their eyes were on Clodagh. Katrina was holding Severus's hand in a bone-snapping grip and Severus's eyes were terribly solemn.

Getting up, her boy lead them both to the sobbing woman. Taking a seat on the floor, Severus laid a hand on the woman's elbow and said, "I'm sorry, Misses Selwyn, but it is already too late."

Alarmed, Eileen demanded, "What do you mean, Severus?"

"He dies," Severus told them, "Tonight."

More scared than she had been in years, Eileen grabbed him and began to shake him. "What do you _mean_?" she yelled, "He just left with your grandmother a moment ago!"

Wrenching himself away, Severus scowled and turned a kind gaze on Katrina. "Come," he whispered to her, "We need to write your brother."

Her eyes rimmed red, the girl did not question her son, but followed his lead and the two were gone.

A few agonizing and frightening minutes later, Eileen's mother came back alone with two glasses in hand. "Your husband was called away while we were in his study," the old woman said before truly registering the two's expressions. Her mind muddle some by the wine, she asked, "What's going on? Where are the children? Clodagh, why are you crying and _Eileen_-"

"Thomas dies tonight," the woman told her mother. "Severus _says _so."

Dropping the glasses, they shatter on the hard ground of the doorway and Clodagh's crying turned to shrieking.

And not a half hour later, men in black coats bring in the body of Thomas Selwyn half-burnt and completely devoid of life.

"What happened to him?" Eileen demanded of the two as Thomas's wife throws herself on top of him screaming and bawling.

Faces hard and lips thin, one of them, a young man that looked vaguely familiar with his square jaw and small ears, told Eileen, "Tonight did not go quite as planned."

Wanting to grab the young man she's sure is the son or daughter of someone she went to school with, she hissed, "That's _not _an answer! What didn't go well? What didn't go as planned!?"

The other man, a thicker fellow that Eileen knows is utterly foreign gives her a cruel sneer as he said, "We don't owe any explanation to a blood-traitor like you!"

"Then what of his grieving wife!?" she countered furious.

"We will be in contact," was all the young man said before the pair left.

When they were both gone, Eileen's mother whispered, "Oh-Oh, we can't let the children see this..."

"Ward the hall," she told her mother. "Put up an age line."

Nodding she went off to do just that as Eileen put a hand on Clodagh's back. "This won't happen again," she promised. "I'm going to stop it."

"How!? How you filthy blood-traitor!?" the widow screamed at her.

Keeping their eyes locked in an even stare, she offered the woman a hand and whispered, "I'll do it with your help."

Face blotchy and lip wobbling, Clodagh took the hand and Eileen let out a breath she'd not known she was holding.

* * *

**Thoughts? What do you think? Does it seem Eileen might get to accomplish her goal?**

**To reviewers, Dixie.f.9, NightmarePrince, Nymphxdora, KodeV, Jemennuie you guys rock :)**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	12. XII

**_Mettle_**

* * *

Eileen could hardly believe the day was here. Standing among all the parents, students, and non-school age children that filled the platform, she found herself blinking away several surprise tears. Severus stood in front of her; he'd grown so much since turning eleven. Right now, he was made of spindly legs and arms, a giraffe-neck, his nose - Tobias's, really - looked too big for his thin face and the faint shadows below his lightless eyes made him look spectral. However, despite the awkward phase her son seemed to have found himself in, Eileen knew he was going to be absolutely dashing someday.

He'd never be anywhere near traditional handsome, but his strong features and the sharp contrast between his pale skin, black hair and eyes would always be a striking thing to look at and Eileen knew someday, a girl with a love for contrasts and distinctive faces would fall for him. They would see a different sort of beauty about her son and love everything that lay beneath it even more.

Finally tiring of their silence, Severus reached out and brushed a hand over Eileen's face. "Come on, Mum, if you cry, I'm going to as well," he told her with a forced chuckle.

Wrapping her arms around Severus, she began to sway side to side with him against her and kissed his head. "I'm going to miss you, so, _so _much Severus!" she said without embarrassment.

His hands gripping her robe, he whispered, "I'm going to miss you just as much, Mum."

"Keep your head down on your way to the train, alright? We don't want you to see things and have you miss the train as result," Eileen told him as she let go of Severus.

Nodding, Severus sent a short, searching look around her. "I will, we just have to wait for the Quirrells or Selwyns to come this way and they'll help me onto the train," he said.

Eileen bit her lip and held back the urge to pet his face once more. She wished she and her mother weren't in the middle of a row. It wasn't right that she was missing her grandson's departure to Hogwarts.

"Tell Granny I love her, okay, Mum?" her son asked, seemingly thinking along the same lines as Eileen.

Nodding, Eileen took his hand and squeezed it. "I will," she promised. But, then, her brows furrowed and she corrected herself, "Or, I'll try, I suppose. You know she's terribly furious with me for taking a job at the Malfoy's Apothecary I don't know if she'll even look at me when I return home."

"I don't get why she's upset, haven't you been telling her for the past year you want to work?" Severus said in a questioning tone.

Eileen sighed and let her shoulders fall ever so slightly. "I have," she replied. "But your grandmother doesn't think it's appropriate for a mother to be working. I thought with you going off to Hogwarts she'd see it wouldn't do any harm and I can always take time off and cut back hours when you're home…"

"She's being crotchety, isn't she?" Severus said with the faintest of smirks.

Eileen barked a laugh. "That's one way of putting it!"

"Severus!" a boyish voice hollered over the steady din of the platform.

They both looked behind Eileen to see Quirinus running toward them full-speed with his trunk clunking behind him. Coming to a stop just an inch or so from Severus face, the towheaded boy gave a grin and enthused, "It's really busy here, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Severus said as he took a careful step back to re-establish his personal space.

Not at all bothered, Quincy's boy gave Severus a slow smile and asked, "D'you want to see the owl I got for school? It's back with Mum and Dad. They said I should go looking for you because Denise is throwing a tantrum."

"What did you end up naming it?" Eileen's son asked as he started walking with Quirinus toward wherever Quincy, Dotty, and Denise were.

Trailing after the boys, Eileen only listened with half an ear as the blond told Severus the name; it sound Egyptian to her ears. As they moved onto more childish things, like houses and what they'd buy from the trolley on the way there, Eileen began to take in the people around her with true interest.

Some looked at her. The majority were more involved with their own children. Frowning, Eileen was reminded that she had yet to see any of the Selwyns. Where was Clodagh? Her children? Her son, Padriac, still had one more year of school and Eileen knew very well that little Katrina was keen on saying goodbye to Quirinus and Severus. After all, today was her last day to speak with them in person. Once the boys were gone with the train the only way she would be able to talk to them would be through letters until Christmas rolled around.

Eileen wondered if she could convince Clodagh to send her daughter to the Prince manor for potions lessons once or twice a week. She just couldn't come around to the idea of Katrina spending all her days alone with her mother. Clodagh might be better company since Thomas died and was taken down a peg, but she still followed pureblood ideals religiously.

It was yet to be seen if she'd stop Padriac from joining the Dark Lord's circle. Even if Severus had not foreseen his death, it did not mean that being a part of the vile man's cause would help him any in life. Given what it had done to his father, one would think he and his mother were more than aware of the ruin it could bring to them.

As they strolled toward the back of the station, Eileen saw from the corner of her eye someone come into step with her. A flash of blond, almost white, hair told her exactly who was walking beside her. It was Abraxas Malfoy. Raising her chin higher, Eileen did not turn her head as she inquired, "What is it, Abraxas?"

"Just thought I'd say 'hello' before I left. Lucius _is_ seventeen this year, he was more than eager rush our goodbyes so he could join his friends on the Express."

Turning her head to meet his stone-grey eyes, Eileen let her lips curve in a closed-mouth smile. "The joys of a teenager, I suppose," she offered.

He gave a dip of his head and his eyes went to the back of Severus and Quirinus's heads.

"It seems to me Lucius was your boy's age just yesterday. Do you know he was actually quite worried? He didn't feel ready. He was sure he'd do terrible in all his subjects," Abraxas told Eileen. "Of course, that was ridiculous. I'd bought the very best tutors and even taught him myself.

"I told him he was being irrational and he'd see soon enough that he'd be one of the best. Lucius doubted me fully. But after about a month of school he wrote me to tell me how he'd gotten three Os on his assignments and an E on his Charms test. Since then, he's been almost too full of himself. Sometimes, I fear what he'll do when someone more knowledgeable comes along and knocks him from his high perch."

Studying the man, Eileen asked, "Are you talking about Severus?"

"Maybe," Abraxas acknowledged with a shrug. "You must admit, Eileen, you Princes are well-known for your intelligence and you made quite a name for yourself amongst us Slytherin for failing to have tact-"

"You all were _idiots _in school," Eileen said as she turned her head away to hide the pink rising on her cheeks.

Undeterred, the blond man continued on, "Or so we seemed to a prodigy like you. What of Severus, my good lady?"

Eileen paused and considered her answer before carefully voicing her opinion on her son. "Severus is just as intelligent - if not more so, but he is quite shy. That blond child beside him, Quirinus, is his best mate and will likely stick with him and take lead in their interactions with other students. I can't say if Severus will speak up when he hears someone say something dunderheaded or that he will show the tactlessness you are talking about, but I don't think he'll hurt your son's _precious _pride either."

Giving an appeased laugh, Abraxas's said, "That's a shame, I was hoping someone would knock my boy down before he leaves school." The man smirked. "But, that's quite alright too, he'll just have to be showed up by someone twice his age rather than half. I will see you next week at the apothecary, yes?"

Blinking, Eileen could only nod as she tried to understand.

"Good day, see you soon, Eileen!" and with that, the man was gone.

Alone, Eileen looked forward and smiled when she saw Quincy holding his daughter beside Dotty. "Hullo," she greeted softly.

Dotty smiled back. "I saw the bloke you were talking to, he looked handsome," she commented.

"Ah…" Eileen muttered sharing a look with Quincy.

They both knew Abraxas quite well and he was far from what either of them would consider a good partner. But, of course, Dotty didn't know this. Letting a laugh escape her lips, Eileen waved the comment off by informing Dotty, "He will be my employer, I don't think it would be appropriate – no matter _how _handsome he may be."

"Shame." Dotty sighed as she took back her teary-eyed daughter from Quincy when the baby reached for her.

They made small talk for a few minutes as the boys continued to chatter, Quirinus looking everywhere and at everything as Severus kept his eyes very carefully on his feet, the towheaded boy, and the cage where Quincy's boy's barn owl resided.

It was painful to know Severus couldn't look at the activity around them. But Eileen soothed herself with the thought that someday, when that vile Dark Lord was gone and her son grown, he could come here with his own child and see the platform and its activity then and live vicariously through his son or daughter. It was a nice thought. A good one.

It was another reason among a thousand and one more as to why she had to stop the lord.

"Severus! Quirinus!"

All of them looked to see Katrina beside her mother and brother as the trio walked toward them.

The boys, who were not nearly as well controlled as Clodagh's daughter, ran toward Katrina.

When Severus and Quirinus reached the girl, they hugged her and then proceeded to walk back with the younger child to the rest of the group.

"Morning, Clodagh." Quincy smiled at the woman.

Face stern, the rude woman nodded at the man and turned then turned her gaze on Eileen. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Eileen politely welcomed her, "Nice to see you again, Clodagh, Padriac, and Katrina."

"Hello, Miss Prince," Padriac offered distractedly. His eyes were on the train and she didn't blame him. His friends were likely already aboard and here was, having to make nice with his mother's acquaintances and their children.

Katrina grinned widely and chirped, "Morning, Miss Prince."

"You can let poor Padriac leave if he wants," Eileen told Clodagh.

The older woman raised her nose in the air and declared, "I will decide when my son may say goodbye, not _you_."

Eileen held back a groan. Clodagh's animosity was still there even after months of working together to figure out ways to assassinate the man that let her husband die. Some days, Eileen felt Clodagh would always begrudge her.

A loud whistle echoed through the station and Quincy put his hands on the boys' shoulders. "Oh! Hear that, lads? You two better hurry for the train if you don't want to miss it!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, Dad," Quirinus nodded. Turning to his mother, he reached up and accepted her one-armed hug and kissed his baby sister's cheek. "See you at Christmas, Denise!"

"Quir," the baby babbled, making a grabbing motion for her brother.

Severus stepped over to Eileen and pressed one last kiss to her cheek. "I will write you before I go to bed tonight, okay?" he whispered anxiously.

"Alright." Eileen smiled as she brushed one hand down her son's back.

The boys then exchanged their last words with Katrina.

"Don't miss us too much!" Quirinus laughed as he gave one of her pigtails a tug.

Jerking away from Quincy's boy, the girl scowled and sent a hopeful look to Severus. Just as the younger child wanted, Severus was kinder in his goodbyes as he took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'll write you all the time, I promise."

"Thanks, Severus," she replied. Then with a look toward Quirinus, she told her son scathingly, "If he gets eaten by any curious beasts, do make sure you tell me."

"Katrina!" Clodagh admonished with distaste.

The girl, shrinking muttered a quick apology, "Sorry, Mother, Quirinus."

Accepting this with a mild huff, Clodagh told her son, "Make sure the boys find a compartment alright, Padriac."

"Moth-"

She narrowed her eyes at Padriac and repeated herself, "Help them find a compartment."

Sighing loudly, the well-built youth jerked his head toward the train and said to Severus and Quirinus, "Come along."

"Bye Mum!" Severus shouted one last time as he followed after Quirinus and Padriac.

Watching them go, Eileen was relieved when she heard Dotty begin to cry behind her. It was comforting to know she wasn't the only one torn to bits watching her son leave.

-v-v-v-v-v-

_Dear Mum,_

_I hope things aren't too bad at home without me. Your not lonely yet, are you? I really hope not because then I'd feel more terrible than I already do about leaving you all alone with granny when she's upset as she is._

_The trip to Hogwarts was… interesting. Padriac did find us an empty compartment before he left us to go see his own mates. While we were settling in, a couple other boys came in. One of them was that Black-boy. You remember him, don't you? He falls into the veil. He recognized me and the other one, I made sure not to look at him, but his name was James Potter and he sounded like a right tosser (sorry for the language, Mum!). Black got mad when I wouldn't talk to them, but Quirinus told them to knock it off because I wasn't feeling well._

_They made fun of me, of course, but I took out my wand and cast a stinging hex on them. I think the Potter-boy might have attacked me if Quirinus hadn't told him to sit down and shut up._

_The rest of the trip was very quiet._

_If you're curious, the Black-boy, Sirius, ended up in Gryffindor and so did Potter. You should have seen how quiet the hall got when the hat yelled Gryffindor during Black's sorting, though! I suppose one has never gone there, right? I can't imagine why else it would be so silent._

_Thankfully, we didn't have to sit with them on the boat ride to Hogwarts and we sat with a girl who introduced herself as Aurora Sinistra (who's in Slytherin now) and another boy, Peter Pettigrew (who ended up in Gryffindor, strangely enough). I didn't like the feel of him, I must say. He was very skittish and kept making the boat tip this way and that. Aurora didn't mind that I wouldn't look at anyone besides Quirinus, though. I think she was more interested in looking at Hogwarts. I took a peak at it too and it really did look wicked!_

_As for the rest of sorting, it went okay. The hat offered some interesting advice about my visions too! He said that I should look into Occlumency and Legilimency. He says it's helped other seers to discipline their minds. After we finished talking about that, he told me I'd fit nicely among the Slytherins. I told him that was good and to put me there because I thought you'd be proud if I went to your old house. And you are, right?_

_As for Quirinus, he's in Ravenclaw. But after the Feast, he found me in the corridor outside the Great Hall and swore it wouldn't change a thing because we were best mates way before Hogwarts. I really hope he's right, Mum. I don't know what I'm going to do if he's not my best mate._

_My roommates are alright so far from what I can tell. I'm sharing with a boy named Evan Rosier, Rufus Flint, Lennon MacDougal and Tim Avery. Did you know any of their parents, Mum?_

_Anyway, I better wrap things up, I have Herbology tomorrow morning and I want to make sure I don't fall asleep in it!_

_Love,_

_Severus _

Eileen read and re-read the letter several times over before setting it aside to cry. She was just so - _emotional_! She was so happy, so worried, so excited and afraid and angry and-and _everything. _It was hard to decide how to feel about her son after his letter.

He'd already faced adversity admirably and would be facing house tensions soon if he wanted to continue his friendship with Quirinus. Yes, the Ravenclaws weren't too picky about their housemates befriending others, but Slytherin _was_. They prized house solidarity just as highly if not even more so than the Gryffindors.

She heard footsteps from behind her and whipped her head back to see her mother.

"Hello, Mother," Eileen greeted coolly.

Old face slack, she asked, "Did you get a letter from Severus?"

"I did," Eileen answered stiffly. "He's a Slytherin, if you must know."

"Good," Eileen's mother murmured. "Good."

Letting them lapse into silence Eileen let her gaze fall to the tabletop of her desk and waited.

"You could have gotten a job at any apothecary, why the Malfoy's?" her mother questioned.

Eileen gave a stiff shrug and replied, "They promise to pay me well."

"Oh don't play with me, girl," her mother scolded. "Money's the least of your problems!"

Meeting the old woman's stare with a fierce glare, she snapped, "Because they have connections with the Dark Lord! Not broken ones as Clodagh has, but ones that are growing as we speak!"

"Do you really think he's going to tell you about what he and his little group do?" Eileen's mother demanded.

She shook her head and picked up Severus's letter. "No," she answered. "But, I suspect I can infiltrate it if I so choose."

"You _can't_!" Eileen's mother cried.

Tucking the letter away into her nightie, Eileen demanded, "Why not? Who does it hurt? It will make it easier to assassinate him, I think, if I can do it myself and as an inside job."

The older woman came to clutch Eileen's shoulders. "What if you die? What if he kills you? Eileen, what will he do to _Severus _if he catches you in the act of trying to murder him?"

Standing up, she snarled, "I'm not a dunderhead! I already have plans for all of the way things can go wrong!"

Her aged eyes watery and mouth parted, her mother took her face in her weathered hands. "I lost you once, and I can't do it again," she whispered.

Averting her eyes, Eileen declared, "Mother, this isn't about you - or even me, anymore. This is about _Severus _and making sure he does not end up dead at the hands of that vile man."

Her mother began to weep bitter tears and as Eileen had done many, many times before for her son, she brought her mother close and did her best to sooth her as she cried.

It was then, Eileen realized in a belated, funny sort of way that she being a mother to _her _mother. Maybe she'd had the stuffs for motherhood all along, or maybe the past eleven years had taught her. No matter which it was, Eileen was surprised to find she did have the mettle for this – and for everything that was going to come.

* * *

**And this is the end of Mettle! How do you guys feel about it? I know there's so much left that's not known, but...that's okay. This story's about the evolution of Eileen. About her growing up, stronger and capable. She's at a point in her life where she can do what's she about to do and maybe, if she's ever so lucky, she will succeed in accomplishing her goal of killing Voldemort.**

**At this time, I have two one-shot sequels you can read set in the _Long Live the Prince _'verse. They're called, _Ill-Made Decisions_, which is set during Severus's first year and told from his perspective. Then there's _The Prince's Guard,_ which is a sequel set far in the future that is told from a Snape-Prince descendant's perspective.**

**I also have a multi-chap sequel called _A Carol for the Fearless _that is being written and posted as we speak that you can read.**

**Thank you so, so much for reading, favoriting, following and reviewing.**

**The Dark One Rising, KodeV, Syl, 2sidedstoryteller29995, Esrath, Suzululu4moe, Dixie.f.9., Spidey Legend, AUehara, Saint Snape, 1, Professor Radar, Emma C.C.S, 013bela, SarahAB, Kazetoame, HP the third, Biancaruth, ChatterChick, NightmarePrince, Nouvel Oblique, Jemennuie, Alyssialui, Lamia of the Dark, nymphxdora, NeonDomino, Chocolatecheesecake, NovaArbella, Maeve-Juniper, KeepsAwayTheNargles, J.F.C. Elizabeth Blossom, OnyxFeather, ArtOholic, Whitetiger91, Theresnomeaning, JadedEphinany, Marie E. Brooke, Tarnished Libris, QueenRayne and HallowRain8587, you guys were all wonderful and thank you all so much for the awesome reviews!**

**Now that we're done with this fic, why not go read some of my others?**

**I'm quite proud of these fics if you need some help:**

**_Don't Let me Go -_**** "Throughout the years, many students of Hogwarts have asked to stay for the summer."**

**_Dimmer Love - _****"Their love was hard to describe; Scorpius felt it was the inspiring kind-the type full of stolen moments and forbidden affections that made one want to write an Ode or Ghazal. Ted thought their romance was a steadier sort of love, the kind that would always be there like the sunrise or the moon hanging in their nighttime sky. They were both wrong and right in the end."**

**EDITED: 4/17/16**


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